


Counting Sheep

by riftwalker23



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, We'll see what happens - Freeform, a lot of comedy a little bit of hard hitting journalism, counting sheep!au, idk how ao3 tags work, maybe one pinch of angst, maybe too slow lol, modern!AU, slowburn, this is my debut and theres no time like the present to do so
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-29
Updated: 2018-10-22
Packaged: 2019-07-04 03:21:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 31,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15832737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/riftwalker23/pseuds/riftwalker23
Summary: Overwatch has been all Hana could think of ever since the game came out. Rising through the ranks would be a given, if only school didn't get in the way. When she's actually offered what she needs-- time, she all but refuses, until a complete stranger she had met in-game just the night before convinces her to give it a shot. That sweet, sweet, D.va and D.mon slow burn we've all been waiting for since, like, a week!Tumblr user gremlinpikachu's concept turned reality.





	1. Your injury is personal to me.

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I write this as a modern!AU where Hana and Yuna are both Overwatch players, and, consequently, the character of D.va doesn’t exist in-game (bear with me) and is replaced by a generic fill-in, Kyo “N.ette” Young-Ja, because, and BEAR WITH ME here, I don’t know how to write for, like, the Starcraft pro-gaming scene or whatever.
> 
> This is my city now. Let's play!

Seven. Seven matches. Seven _entire_ consecutive matches where this same _god forsaken_ Mei and her blasted frost magic had been one-upping Hana at every turn. These were all just quick play, mind you, but she’d been contesting the point for so long that her fingers were cramping harder than when she played in comp.

Nearly everyone in both teams kept staying on for more matches, for some reason or another, and that ended up creating this niche little bubble community between them. Everyone was being cordial, except this one god awful _Mei_.

Be it fate, destiny, or a poor balancing system, for every single one of those seven matches, the Mei was _always_ on the enemy team. Hana’s team would lose one, win one, lose one, win one, but the Mei was always on the other side, looming threateningly with a red “MVP” Card and at least 3 plays of the game so far.

For the last couple matches, the Mei seemed particularly inclined towards focusing on her. Hana could barely  spend any time in her mech as N.ette before being abruptly expelled out of it by this wanna-be Elsa and, at this point, three losses in, it was starting to get on her teammates’ nerves.

_**[BrianD]** left the game. _

_**[XxedgelordxX]** left the game. _

_**[nekomori]** left the game. _

**[d.znuts]:** yikes :/

 **[d.znuts]:** left all at the same time……..

 **[d.znuts]:** guess they gave us the cold shoulder

_**[tracerswife]** joined the game. _

_**[OtakuTaco]** joined the game. _

**[Apollo]:** man shut up

 **[d.znuts]:** cranky cos ur losing arent ya

 **[tracerswife]** yikes can u guys chill

 **[d.znuts]:** i can help them cool off ;)

_**[TheRealMichaelScott]** joined the game. _

Athena’s robotic voice sounded over Hana’s headset and the clock started counting down. _Traveling to Hanamura. Prepare to attack. Select your hero._

 **[d.znuts]:** glhf boys

 **[d.znuts]:** try not to slip on the ice ;P

While everyone else was taking their pick, Hana quickly skimmed through a Mei counter list on her phone to refresh her memory; this had become a matter of honor. Hopefully the new players would be better at coordinating.

They seemed to be going for a classic 2-2-2 combo (Moira, Mercy, Reinhardt, Winston, McCree). What surprised her was that the second DPS spot was up for grabs, so she hastily picked Pharah and smirked at the screen. Maybe that’s what she’d been needing; to deal some solid damage and blow off steam.

And she wasn’t entirely wrong. It was, by far, the most intense and most fun match of the night.

Right at the start, Mei tried to ambush the team, but overextended and was immediately pummeled by their Reinhardt’s fire strike and general hammer bashing. Hana let out a huge grin when she saw it happen.

 **[Song]:** that was so beautiful i almost cried

 **[TheRealMichaelScott]:** Just doing my job

With the demon Mei gone for a solid 20 seconds (10 to respawn and 10 to get back), it was almost as if there was no enemy team. Hana easily cleared through an enemy Soldier and Moira, while her team’s McCree picked off the opposing Wrecking Ball and Junkrat. The enemy Sombra and Tracer were as inconvenient as flies while her team tried to capture the first point, but barely 1 minute passed and she heard Athena’s voice echo again. _Point A captured. Capture point B._

The initial thrill of getting halfway to victory quickly faded as Hana begrudgingly thought that if the second point were taken just as quick, it would significantly lessen the impact of the win; there wouldn’t be a chance for a fair fight.

But _thankfully_ , it was just a thought.

Hana managed to get her ult charge and rocket barrage two enemies away at the second point. Just after that, though, the Mei figured out her M.O. and from that moment on it was headshot after headshot after headshot. She got a few hits in as well, but at the end of the first 3 minutes, the two of them were tied with gold eliminations in their teams.

Hana’s was just about to get past the first tick when the Mei killed her for the last time as Pharah with a precisely-timed icicle through the head. With Hana out of the picture, it was as if her team was just as aimless as the enemy’s without their Mei.

She was done with Pharah then. She switched to Reaper, and immediately got in through the high ground and killed an unsuspecting Mei, giving her team an opportunity to check the first tick and half of the second one before someone from the enemy team jumped back on the point.

 **[Song]:** Your injury is personal to me.

 **[d.znuts]:** ouch

After the Mei figured out what to expect from Hana, she immediately adapted. Switched characters, did she?

No. She was still the same Mei. But her play style changed completely to reflect the new challenge: for the next 3 minutes, she always knew which corners Hana would come out of, which completely butchered Hana’s element of surprise, and gave her the upper edge half of the times they engaged with each other.

They were so evenly matched, whenever Hana killed the Mei, she would get killed immediately after. To the point that it started to get repetitive.

But it was only when the clock counted down to 00:59 seconds, while the rest of the team tried desperately to push back onto the point, that Hana realized her _mistake_. The Mei had been keeping her undivided attention by the left side balcony, enticing a chase and being generally obnoxious, while the rest of Hana’s team was trying to desperately breach from the middle bridge.

Baiting was one of the oldest tricks in the book. But, thankfully, she caught it in time, and there was still a chance for damage control. She looked up at the timer, then at her ult charge (96%) and retreated from the Mei, who was trying to lead her down to the passageways underneath the bridge and further away from the main fight.

Hana teleported up towards the high ground and dropped down on the enemy team long enough to land two shots that fully charged her ult. Death blossom caught three unsuspecting players before it ended, and gave the team a chance to check the second tick while fighting off the remaining heroes.

One of the enemy players had switched off to a Lúcio, and he was being particularly annoying to get off the point. When they finally killed him, the third and final tick started to load, but then... the damn Mei jumped on the point, materializing seemingly from out of _nowhere_ , and freezed two thirds of the team.

Hana let out a grunt of frustration as she was the first one to get shot down, and then watched, very annoyed, as another two of her teammates got frozen to death as well.

Somehow, her team’s Mercy and Winston were still alive, and the Mercy (god bless her) revived her in the nick of time. She got back in the match and instantly sicced two killing rounds on the Mei.

By the time that had happened, though, the enemy’s Moira, Soldier and Roadhog that Hana had killed with her ult already had a chance to respawn, and had just got back to the point.

And thus began one of the most intense and seemingly never-ending overtime battles that Hana had ever been in. The teams were smart enough to never be too tightly grouped up, so every ult unleashed only caused one or two kills at most.

 _Ten_ entire minutes passed by with ults being charged and used up so many times people lost count, during which there were always somehow one team member of both teams on the point at all times.

Until it finally happened.

In a matter of seconds, her entire team and the enemy’s wiped most of each other out in a synchronicity so clockwork perfect that left a breach of time where only their Mercy and, _damn it_ , the enemy _Mei_ were on the point.

Everyone who was still dead watched the Mercy as she, in microseconds, considered her options. Hana looked over at her ult charge, pressing the talk button so fast her finger cramped up. “Mercy! Put me back! Put me back! My ults ready! Reaper’s ult is _ready_!!”

Mercy flew across the map to escape the Mei just as half the enemy team was coming out of their spawn room, all the while trying to desperately stay on the point. The timer for the rez was running out and Hana genuinely thought that was it.

They’d lost.

And then, in a last saving grace, a final hail Mary, Mercy flew _back_ to her and she saw the golden sparks.

The camera angle changed as it switched back into her own perspective as Reaper, giving her only enough time to see a Soldier, Moira and Lúcio jump onto the point from one side towards _her,_ while the Mei wall-trapped and finished off her life-saving Mercy.

She immediately went into wraith form, positioning herself to float around smack dab in the middle of the point, while the enemy team tried to land a hit.

Hana smirked. “ _Two_ can play at baiting, Mei.”

With a frantic press of a button, Death Blossom was unleashed again. Mei had used up her wall to back the Mercy into a corner and her cryo-freeze was on cooldown. None of the healers had their ults charged. Everyone was so desperate to end the match they closed in on her. Too close.

_Quadruple kill._

Hana nearly jumped out of her chair screaming varying iterations of “Yeah, damnit!!” before she saw the the two remaining enemies, a Tracer and a McCree, come out of the spawn room.

The McCree tried to stun her with his flashbang but she sidestepped just in time, and he was having a hard time hitting his shots. The Tracer died within seconds of stepping into the point with one critical hit to the head, and Hana turned back to deal with the McCr—

 **[d.znuts]:** damn man

 **[d.znuts]:** that was op

The one glance, the _microseconds_ it took away from her concentration to read the orange match chat text that popped up on her screen were enough to give McCree a chance to do some damage, 2 seconds before her Wraith Form recharged.

_Damn it._

Just before he finished her off, she saw her team’s McCree, who switched to a Wrecking Ball, bowling ball himself onto the point.

While Hana waited to respawn, the spectator camera focused on one of the other players running back as well. She frantically clicked through the players trying to get the footage of Wrecking Ball on the point. She could still hear the incessant beeping that told her it was being contested.

And just as she did, she saw the enemy McCree’s body fly dead and pixelize.

The beeping stopped.

Two of the other enemies were about to jump in the point but it was too late. All movement went into slow motion and the flashing letters came out.

_VICTORY!_

**[Song]:** g fuckin g

 **[TheRealMichaelScott]:** nice save reaper

 **[tracerswife]:** ye thx song and taco for the point

The highlight intro started to play as the her teammates congratulated themselves. Large letters displayed under a frosted over screen read in plain white and yellow

_PLAY OF THE GAME_

_D.ZNUTS AS MEI_

and it took all Hana had in her not to punch her keyboard keys in.

[d.znuts]: I feel very, very small... please hold me...

As the game replayed the god damned moment that _demon_ idiot Mei killed her and part of her team, she heard a familiar sound, and a small notification popped up on the top center of her screen.

_FRIEND REQUEST FROM D.ZNUTS_

_FRIEND REQUEST PENDING_

“What in the…”

* * *

 

 _What the hell_ , Hana thought to herself as she hovered her mouse over the huge ‘Accept’ button. _Might as well see what he wants_.

_**[d.znuts]** started playing Overwatch. _

_**[d.znuts]** invited you to a group! _

**[d.znuts]:** u kno, im pretty sure the two of us were the only ones who stood out from the crop of that match

_You have joined a group!_

**To [d.znuts]:** u know….. i cant take anything you say seriously with that battletag of yours

 **[d.znuts]:** and yet here you are

Group chat 

**[Song]:** please

 **[Song]:** for the love of everything holy

 **[Song]:** if we’re going to do this i cant… call u that

 **[Song]:** give me something else to work with

 **[d.znuts]:** how about just nuts

 **[Song]:** the implications still there

_Joined group voice chat - open mic. 2/2 players_

_Press P to access channels._

“Oh, I _know_ ,” Hana said the moment she connected to the voice chat. “Devil bitch,” she smiled as she punctuated that. “How’s that sound?” She quipped as she opened up (sigh) d.znuts’ career profile.

“ _Wow_ ,” echoed the crystal clear voice in her headset. Was that? Was it really another girl’s voice?  “That’s straight out of left field. What’d I ever do to you?”

The way Hana saw it, it could go either one of two ways: an incredibly obnoxiously outspoken kid, which was grounds for immediate closing of the game; or it was an incredibly obnoxiously outspoken girl/woman, which was, by its own definition, a god damned sight to be seen.

“Are…” Hana stopped herself mid-question. “You a girl too?”

“Well, _obviously_ !” She replied, “You think a _man_ can play this well?” and Hana could practically hear the smug look on her face as she said that.

“That’s… it’s actually really relieving to hear that.”

The girl laughed. “Is that even a word? Well, doesn’t matter,” she paused for a moment while she queued them up for a match. “Let’s rub the floor with some nerds!”

Hana quirked an eyebrow immediately. “ _Rub_ the floor?”

The girl scoffed. “Oh, cry me a table, Linda.”

“That one I _know_ was on purpose.”

They laughed and then there was a comfortable silence between them for a couple of seconds. Hana minimized Overwatch to check her messages, and she saw the time: 2:47. She was about to say she should probably head to bed, when the girl interrupted.

“You know, you really _were_ hell to go up against…”

Hana scoffed. “I could say the _same_ for you.”

“Hey, if it’s not a fair fight, it’s not worth winning, you know?”

Hana smiled. “Yeah…” And they were left in silence again until the queue found them a match.

Athena’s familiar robotic voice lines echoed over Hana’s headset. _Travelling to Dorado. Prepare to attack. Select  your hero._

When the match finally loaded, Hana got back into the game and finally skimmed over Devil Bitch’s profile: Diamond rank, like her. Almost a Master but not quite there yet, like _her_. Nearly 200 hours on Orisa (intestering?), with close to 170 hours on Symmetra and Mei each, and 110 on Genji. Over 60 on Torbjorn and Bastion. And nearly all of the other heroes had between 10 to 12 hours of play each.

 _Good god._ “Do you make, like, a career out of playing a themed roster of the all-time most _annoying_ heroes possible?” She asked.

Devil Bitch laughed. “I wouldn’t say they are _annoying_ as much as they are _effective_.”

“What happened to ‘there’s no value in a win if there isn’t a fair fight?’”

“Oh, come on,” she said as she picked Orisa out of the roster. Three of the other players had already chosen Ana, Lúcio and Zarya, and Hana thought the fourth was waiting for her to make her pick. “ _None_ of my mains are hard to counter. It’s all about skill and game savvy after that!”

Hana scoffed, acknowledging what she had said while still going over her choices. “Okay, and so then... what if you’re kicking the other team’s asses with those easy picks?” She just picked N.ette as a habit, but instantly switched over to Pharah. The other guy picked Reaper.

“Then I’m just _better_ at this than they are, and it’s another easy win.”

The character selection timer ended as the two got dropped into the spawn room and instantly started spamming dancing emotes and petty voice lines (like Orisa’s “Do you need a hug?” and Pharah’s “Not a chance.” and Pharah’s “I’m _so_ scared” paired with Orisa’s “Error 404: Sarcasm module not found.”).

“I usually don’t play against low levels, but hey, if Blizzard’s balancing system put me up against them, it’s ‘cos they got the potential for it, right?” The girl said.

“If you say so,” was Hana’s curt answer, while she focused on spamming greetings to the two healers by the main exit.

The match was about 10 seconds away from starting when Hana spotted a trio of Symmetra turrets nearby the entrance and she and the Ana went up to the balcony.

“Hey, Devil bitch, there’s turrets outside, watch out.”

She laughed. “You can call me Yuna, by the way.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Hana smiled. “Devil bitch has _such_ a nice ring to it, though.”

The doors opened. An instant Symmetra photon energy ball barrage. Yuna rushed towards the payload, accompanied by their Lúcio and Zarya, while Hana kept to the skies aided by the Ana hanging back on the spawn’s bell balcony.

“I figure it would _really_ be better for our newfounded girl alliance if you would call me by my actual name.”

“I thought I was?” Just as she said that, Hana overextended and sent a rocket that blasted the enemy Symmetra off the map, but not before getting caught in one of her turrets and nearly dying.

“Regroup, regroup, regroup!” Yuna shouted when she noticed, and Hana fell back.

“Calm down, I was _fine_ ,” she said as she was getting shot up by Ana.

“But… your safety is my primary concern,” she said in a terrible Orisa impression. They regrouped and pushed forward on the payload, fighting their way through the first choke before the Dorado fountain. “Women gotta stick together and what not.”

Hana raised an eyebrow. A _Crazy Ex-Girlfriend_ reference? “Each and every day?”

There was a very tonally happy shift in Yuna’s voice. “In _each_ and _every_ way!”

Hana just smiled to herself as she killed off the enemy Widowmaker.

“See? We’re bonding already! Let’s— MOIRA LOW ON THE PAYLOAD!!” She cut herself off and threw out a graviton charge to stop the Moira in her tracks.

Hana instantly realized what Yuna would do and hit a rocket straight at her. The elimination ding echoed in her head and but she didn’t even have time to say thanks before she saw an enemy Bastion going into sentry mode and shouted back, almost instantaneously, “BASTION TOP LEFT BALCONY!!”

The bastion didn’t even get a chance to get off his ass before they double tagged him.

“And _that’s_ how you counter a Bastion, boys and girls!!!” Yuna shouted into her mic and Hana had to blink a few times because of how loud it was.

“You know,” she said just as they cleared the first checkpoint with the rest of the team following due diligently behind, “I figured, what with the absurd amount of almost future vision like knowledge you seemed to have of the ways you—Widow top.” _Ding_. “The ways you would fuck me up those other rounds— Payload Genji about to ult.”

 _Ryujin no ken wo kurae!_ He tried to take out their Lúcio and Brigitte (the Ana had switched between deaths) but Brigitte shield-bashed him and Hana finished him off. _Ding_.

“The, uh,” she tried to keep track of her thoughts mid-fight. “I thought you were either some crazy methodical bastard or some obnoxiously lucky idiot.”  
“Oh, I happen to be both,” she said, and Hana could once again practically hear the shit-eating grin Yuna was wearing. “Duality of man and all that.”

The two focused back on the game, keeping the banter short and mostly just calling out enemy positioning. By the time they reached the second checkpoint at the entrance of Lumérico, it was like there wasn’t even a fight being put up by the enemy team anymore. The entire team was riding on the payload when a N.ette ult hit out of nowhere and scored a quad kill, leaving Hana and Yuna alone on the point with no healers.

“Oh shit,” Yuna said. “Time to contest, I guess.”

“How’s your ult charge?”

“Full. You got yours?”

“Yep.”

Yuna slammed down her Supercharger and immediately focused fire on the Soldier coming out of the point. “Go for it,” she said, so matter-of-factly it felt like the vocal equivalent of her holding off a child by pushing against their head and keeping them at arm’s length. _Duality of man, I guess._

Hana let out the rocket barrage and de-meched the N.ette while also taking with her the enemy Widowmaker and Moira, who were just about to land on the payload.

And, just as their team was coming through the doors of Lumérico, the two of them sat on the payload and watched as the game screen faded and displayed that one magic word.

_VICTORY!_

The play of the game was one where their team’s Reaper got a team kill, and the two complimented his skill to each other.

“Hey, it’s been fun,” Hana said, and to her surprise, meant it, “I gotta go, though, it’s late.”

There was a hint of surprise in Yuna’s voice. “Oh, shit, what time is it?”

Hana looked at the clock. “Almost 3.”

“Oh wow, yeah, you should totes sleep, I’ll be going too in a while,” Yuna answered and there was a brief silence between them. Hana was about to say bye again and leave the game when Yuna said, “But, hey, you saw that right? We could totally go pro.”

“It was _one_ match,” She replied.

“The only way to know for sure is to play more matches together then.”

Hana scoffed, the smallest hint of a smile creasing the edge of her lips. “Sure, well see what happens.” She paused. “Maybe if you change your handle, this—” and she gestured between herself and the screen, completely ignoring the fact that Yuna couldn’t see her, “might actually work out."

* * *

 

Hana’s phone screen flashed as the alarm rang at exactly 6 a.m. “Ugh,” she sighed and, without taking her head off the pillow, blindly tapped around her bed to find the damn thing and turn it off.

Another deep breath, and she jumped out of her bunk bed almost mechanically, untangling herself from pastel pink sheets and rubbing her face. With lazy steps and half-closed eyes, she climbed down to the floor and, without even looking, grabbed the white uniform shirt that was hanging on the back of her pink and black office chair.

She twirled it so it faced her and then grabbed a red tie thrown on one armrest and a crumpled up suit jacket that she had probably been sitting on for the entirety of the previous night. She quirked an eyebrow at the empty seat after she got the jacket and sighed. She put the clothes she was holding on the back of the chair and turned to look around the room for her missing skirt.

The keyboard in the corner of her room, barely visible underneath a pile of scattered school papers, was also being used as a hanger for too-dirty-for-closet clothes, but she didn’t see a skirt amongst them. After a glance, and a brief look of “Oh, right” delayed recognition, its location was revealed to be the floor across from her door. She picked it up, threw it on the chair with the rest of the clothes and nodded.

Occupying the entire wall right of where she stood was a white wood closet with metallic frames and four sliding-panel doors. The ingenious part of it was the second-right panel, which was actually a television screen attached to see-through glass (personally designed by her architect/interior designer mother).

The screen was on power-saving mode and only displayed the current time (7:01 a.m.) and weather (Cloudy, 18°C/64°F), and the rest of the glass was dark enough to show off a reflection Hana when she passed by it. She slide open the panel closest to the wall to reach for some clean underwear and then walked back to the chair after she’d changed.

As she got dressed, she looked at herself in the glass. A bit more awake now, she glanced behind her own reflection just before putting on her shirt and saw her CPU sitting on the corner desk. There was a hint of a smile on her face before she, and her shirt, came back down to the present.

Hana furrowed her brows as she put on her skirt and suit jacket, a bit surprised at herself. She usually didn’t just straight up forget the Overwatch players she had gone up against in intense matches, but she certainly didn’t start the day with them the first on her mind. Whether she liked it or not, _d.znuts_ —god, what was her name, again—had made a lasting impression.

She shook away the thoughts and walked over to the other side of her room, sliding open one of the middle wood panels. She opened the topmost drawer, filled with just rows and rows of bundled up socks, and grabbed a pair, having to jump one leg trying to put them on and frustratedly sitting on the floor when that proved unsuccessful.

After she propped herself up, she looked back at her bed and climbed halfway up the ladder, sprawling herself over the mattress to grab her phone. She climbed back down, headed towards the toor, grabbing her messenger bag, that was hanging on the doorknob, before she walked out.

She walked down the hallway checking her phone’s calendar, completely ignoring the paintings and artifacts from around the world that were decorating the walls, and making mental notes on what she needed to recall for her classes that day. It wasn’t until she had gotten down the hanging steps staircase that she heard her mother call her into the kitchen.

Her mom was making one of her weird fitness diet breakfasts when Hana walked in—she’d smelled the kale long before that, though. Hana let out a sleepy “Hey” that made her mom look up from the black marble counter and smile at her.

She leaned back on the counter and looked Hana up and down before saying, “someone looks like she got a good night’s rest…”

“I’m _fine_ ,” Hana said, pulling up a chair and setting her phone on the table.

“Does Miss Fine want some coffee?” Her mom asked, already walking over to the coffee maker grabbing the pot.

Hana’s eyes trailed her as she went towards the sink. The sound of water rushing into the metal sink once the faucet was on made Hana cringe. Still half-asleep, she guessed. “ _So..._ what are the plans for today?” Her mom asked while the pot was being filled.

Hana sighed dramatically. “Oh, you know, the usual. Just… boring school stuff,” she shrugged.

Her mom walked back to the coffee machine and pressed some buttons. Even though she was turned back to her, Hana could feel that her mom had raised her eyebrows at her.

“Does any of that boring school stuff involve you doing some actual research for a decent college to attend?” She asked, with a change of tone in her voice the next time she spoke that was so slight that only someone used to it would catch it.

Hana’s shoulders dropped. She stayed quiet, staring intensely at the placemat in front of her. The silence was cut off by some loud clinking, her mom grabbing a mug from a row of them that were hanging in a series of hooks underneath one of the cabinets near the coffee maker. The noise made Hana’s head shoot up.

“Hana, dear?” Her mom asked, looking over her shoulder while the coffee maker beeped. “I asked you a question.”

Hana looked down and sighed again, this time, not as dramatically. “Yeah, uh,” she said, “I’m, i’m working on it, yeah,” she said as her mom poured her the coffee.

Hana looked up briefly only to see the barely noticeable frown on her mom’s face as she walked towards her. “Hana,” she said while she handed her the mug, “you know you need to take this more seriously.” She went back to the counter where she had been making her breakfast. “How do you want to get a job, an apartment—hell, even a car—if you don’t put in the effort to find something that makes _actual_ money and stop wasting your time?”

She put her breakfast in some tupperware containers and put them into one of those cloth coolers before turning around to look at Hana again. Hana sighed, and was about to reply something before she got cut off.

“That,” her mom flapped one hand in the air derisively, “that nonsense game you play—” Hana rolled her eyes. “Don’t you roll your eyes at me.”

“I _wasn’t_ , you just—” Her mom turned around after grabbing her cooler, cutting her off.

She straightened her suit and said, “I just _what_? Don’t ‘get’ why you’d spend the entire night playing games and risk jeopardizing your studies? You know that isn’t healthy. I don’t—”

Her monologue was cut short by the sound of her phone vibrating on the counter. She turned to check the message, which gave Hana enough time to scowl before she turned back.

“I’m late,” she said, while she looked at the screen. She started to walk out and looked back up at Hana, pointing straight at her with the phone still in hand, and said, “I’ve told you this once and I won’t tell you again. The next time I get woken up at night by the sound of you screaming, I’m cutting off the power.”

Hana scowled when once she heard the front door close and her mother’s engine start.

For the rest of the morning, her mood was completely soured. “Get serious,” she said, mockingly. “Do shit with your life.” She scoffed. “God.” She impulsively grabbed the mug from the table and dumped the coffee in the sink before opening the fridge and getting some greek yogurt.

She angrily cut a banana on the counter and had to control every fiber of her being not to enragedly throw the slices into the yogurt and make a mess. She poured herself some lemonade before sitting back down to eat with a scowl.

Her expression changed when she heard a horn coming from outside and, two seconds later, her phone vibrated.

 **Dae-hyun [06h06]:** Hey, I’m outside

 **Hana [06h06]:** ur early, im still not done eating

 **Dae-hyun [06h07]:** Eat fast

 **Dae-hyun [06h07]:** I have a meeting before class

 **Hana [06h07]:** ??

 **Hana [06h07]:** why didnt you tell me that before litcherally right now??

 **Dae-hyun [06h07]:** I did??? Last night?? When we were playing???

Hana tried to dig the back of her memory to recall the moments before that set of matches with Yuna—that’s _right_ ! Her name was Yuna, she remembered, just as the mention of the game put the girl back in her head. She’d only started playing with her a while after Dae-yun left to go to bed, and the intensity of the matches they had kinda dimmed her memory of everything else. But she slowly recalled him mentioning at least _something_ about it during a match.

Recognition finally hit just as she heard Dae-hyun slam the horn three more times, so she chugged down her lemonade (a terrible decision on her part) and grimaced, while hastily throwing the rest of her breakfast in the trash. She grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl on the table before rushing to the front door and putting on her shoes, apple in mouth.

Dae-hyun was sitting in the driver’s seat of his silver Dodge Challenger and waved at Hana when she ran out the door. She got in the car, nearly dropping the apple, closing the door with a thud and turning to Dae-hyun. “Dude, what the hell!” She said. The radio was humming some low R&B.

He smiled at her before looking back to the road and shifting gears. “I _told_ you I had a meeting!”

“And I _forgot_!” She said, after taking the apple out of her mouth.

He laughed and glanced at her. “You look great, by the way.”

“Oh, shut up. I only slept three hours.”

He laughed. “And that’s how you get into SKY…”

“Not if you spend the awake hours playing games,” she scoffed.

A pause and he struggled between focusing his attention between her and the road. “You stayed up all that time still playing??”

Hana let out a quiet laugh before saying, “Yeah...” She took a bite off her apple. The matches she had with Yuna popped back into mind and she beamed. “Oh man, you should’ve _seen_ the hell I was in.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Yeah?”

“It was _insane_.” Dae-hyun smiled at himself when he heard the enthusiasm in her voice. “Me and this cocky ass Mei went at it for like match after match after match!” She told him the highlights of the matches before ending with “and then, after ALL that—get this!—the dude sends me a fucking friend request!”

“And you took it?” He asked. “Don’t you remember that pissed off McCree?” Referring to an incident in a just-for-jokes match where a level 30 McCree from the enemy team got so pissed at her for picking Bastion and being over level 600 that he friended her _just_ to swear at her in the whisper chat.

“That pissed off Bastion was _exactly_ why I took it!” She laughed. “That was one of the funniest matches I had!” Dae-hyun laughed with her. “But no! It wasn’t like that! They tell me, they whisper to me ‘we could be great together’ and then invite me to a _group_!”

Dae-hyun briefly looks back at her in surprise. “Why are _you_ so thrown off by it? People can be decent in Overwatch sometimes. _We’ve_ done that before.”

“I don’t know,” she said, honestly. “I guess… they were so cocky about it before, it came out of left field. Like, during the matches they were taunting our team _constantly_ and it _got_ to everyone but me, so I thought they added me to try to taunt me in private or something? That’s what it felt like.”

“Huh.”

“I might have been a bit defensive.”

Dae-hyun laughed. “Maybe a bit.”

“But then afterwards, we _did_ play a match together. And she was a _girl!!!_ ” Dae-hyun nodded along. “She told me she just taunted people like that because she thought they were dudes and I was like, ‘wow, what an icon.’”

Dae-hyun laughed. “Hey, that’s _sexist_ ,” he mocked. Hana glared at him before he said, “But yeah, big mood, though,” and the two laughed again.

When they stopped, Hana sighed, almost nostalgically, and said, “But yeah, it was fun.”

“Worth sleeping in Math over?”

“You fucking bet.”

There was a couple moments of silence between them as they hit traffic, with only the hum of the engine and the music playing in the radio playing in the background.

“Oh!” Dae-hyun exclaimed then. “Did I tell you I’m almost done fixing up that old dirt bike my uncle found in the scrapyard?”

Hana raised her eyebrows. “Yeah?”

He looked over his shoulders to the backseat. “Grab my backpack, will ya?”

Hana frowned but complied, unbuckling her seat belt to reach back and get it. “What do I do with this?”

“Reach into the front pocket.”

She took out a pamphlet adorned in bright contrasting colors. It was shoddy work. A picture of Ken Roczen holding his helmet and posing by his red 2017 Honda CRF450 occupied the top right corner, with a number of unidentifiable racers on the left, all poorly photoshopped on top of some scenic shot of the Korean International Circuit. At the bottom of it, one of those red and yellow comic book explosions circled some big bold text in all capital black letters. It read:

 _2018 OSAN MOTOCROSS FREE-FOR ALL_ ,

_₩ 1,000,000 GRAND PRIZE!_

_SIGN UP 19 AND OVER_

_KWANG-JO MOTOCROSS TRACK_

She looked over at Dae-hyun. “You want—”

He cut her off. “I was just _thinking_ , you know…” He glanced at her with a smirk. “Since between the two of us, you’re the only one with any bike exper—”

“I’m _in_ !” she exclaimed, nearly crumpling up the pamphlet. “I am _so_ in!”

He laughed. “Okay, okay. Calm down.”

“Sorry,” she said after a quiet laugh. “What did they say again?”

Dae-hyun kept his eyes on the road but let out a cheshire cat grin. “They said… to just ‘bring a bike and hope for the best.’”

Hana nearly giggled, completely hyped up. “Fantastic!” She shook her head excitedly, already thinking of the challenge. “When is it?”

“Three months. Sign up is ‘till the end of the week.”

Hana scoffed. “Oh, my mom is going to _hate_ this.”

“I bet she is.” They smiled at each other. “You’re okay with the lying-about-your-age thing?”

“Dae-hyun,” she looked at him seriously. “Did you think i got my ‘bike experience’ from following the rules?” A pause, and she said cheekily, “I do have a license…”

He scoffed. “To drive a moped… That _barely_ goes over 40 kilometers an hour.”

“You _know_ that isn’t the only kind of bike I rode!!”

“Bicycles don’t count.”

She looked at him in disbelief. “ _You’re_ the one who wants me to do this!!”

“I’m _kidding_ !” He grinned at her. “And you _know_ you want to do it just as bad,” he said.

“You’re right and you _should_ say it, because I do.” She thought it over for a second. “I need a better headset and—”

He continued before she could. “And you’re a crazy adrenaline junkie with a knack for _vicious_ competition and total disregard for the rules.”

She grinned, feeling her ego be just a little bit boosted. “That too.”

For the next few minutes, the car was left in a comfortable silence as the two of them enjoyed the music. Hana absentmindedly looked out the window, though the view of traffic wasn’t that stimulating. Dae-hyun usually picked her up at 6h30, and they’d usually got to school at 7h15 just with time to spare for class at 8h00 but he had this big important meeting, so there they were some solid 15 minutes earlier than usual.

She looked up at Dae-hyun. “What’s this meeting you have about anyways?”

“Oh, my study group’s making a lesson plan to study for the NCATs. “You know how it is,” he shrugged.

Hana grimaced, and her mood soured again. “Yeah… You’re still planning on mechanical engineering?”

He nodded. “You still have no idea what you’re going to do?”

She laughed and nodded.

“Your mom’s still giving you slack for it?”

“Oh, for _sure_.”

He looked at her with a sympathetic smile. “Hey, the year just started. You might find something you like doing between now and the NCATs.”

She scoffed. “Nothing I _want_ to do is collegeable.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Yeah? Like what?”

She looked at him with some concern. Still, mentally biting her tongue, she said, “Like streaming.”

“Streaming?”

“Yeah, you know, Overwatch and stuff.”

“I know, I know. You mean like, for a living?”

She could practically _feel_ the judgement about to come. “Yeah,” she answered sheepishly. A moment of silence as Dae-hyun switched lanes.

“Dude!” Dae-hyun exclaimed, looking at her. His supporting tone of voice caught her completely off guard. “I’ve _seen_ you play when I’m not lowering the skill tier. Go for it!”

“You’re serious?”  
“Hana, c’mon.” He laughed. “You _know_ you’re good. If you didn’t spend all this time in school, can you _imagine_ how fast you’d rise through the ranks? Hell, you could be one of the few girls to actually go pro.”

“Oh, shut up,” she said, trying not to smile.

“You know I’m right.”

“Well… mom doesn’t.” She paused. “And it doesn’t even matter… It’s not like I could do it full-time anyway…” Her face dropped. “Between classes and the study sessions _after_ classes that are just as _bad_ as the classes, and the _review_ of the classes after I get home, and the insurmountable amount of shit my mom would give me for it, it’s just not doable.”

Dae-hyun was silent. She took it as an agreement to her argument.

“Besides, I can only barely stream on weekends now as it is.”

“Maybe that can change.”

She glared at him. “Convince my mom.”

“Pffft, she’ll get around to it soon enough you get one those sweet, sweet sponsorship deals and start floating in cash.”

“And where, pray tell, will I get one of those?” She asked, if only to entertain his ridiculous fantasy.

“You just gotta git gud,” he said through a smirk.

“Cheeky.”

He smirked back. “Learned from the best."

* * *

 

Hana spent the rest of the day in school in her head. She’d stare absentmindedly at the whiteboard while her professors talked, her fingers lightly tapping on the edge of her desk with muscle memory reminiscent of the movement keys. Fake encounter scenarios would be broadcast in her head, getting vividly accurate whenever she blinked, and a corresponding phantom feeling in her hands would play out her movements in the “game.”  
She and Dae-hyun were in different classes, so she only got to see him when class was over. They met up at the school gates. Only a few of the other students were coming out with them, heading out for a snack before coming back to study.

“Walk with me to the car?” He asked. “I forgot some books in the trunk.”

Hana groaned. “Really?? It’s bad enough I have to stay here ‘studying’ ‘till nine… You’re gonna make me walk more than I have to too??” The Dodge was parked only some three hundred meters up the street from the school, but it felt _so_ far away.

“Oh, c’mon, humor me.”

They walked at a comfortable pace, Dae-hyun going a bit slower than his usual speed to let Hana keep up, since he was the taller of the two. They crossed three or something streets, talking about meaningless school gossip, before Dae-hyun tried to get something out of his suit pocket.

After he fumbled enough for long enough for Hana to notice, he produced a key with a little orange sleeve. He held it in front of him with his fingers and said, “Here.”

She raised an eyebrow, looking down and grabbing the key. “What’s this?”

“A key to my brother’s apartment.”

Hana was even more confused.

Dae-hyun stopped walking as they turned a corner. “He lives close by,” he said, pointing a thumb up the street they had just turned into. “It’s like three streets up, you turn on the third and it’s the building at the end.” He smiled. “I’ll text you the address.” Every word out of his mouth only extended her puzzled expression. “He has a setup kinda like yours.”

Hana scoffed, clearly still processing what was happening. “Okay, first of all. Why haven't I heard of this before today?” She started. “And, second of all, what are you implying I do, lunatic??”

He laughed. “You probably just forgot. Again.”

She crossed her arms. “You didn’t forget any books in your car, did you?” She asked, brows furrowed.

He scratched the back of his head. “Well, yes and no.”

“Let’s go get them, then,” she huffed and started walking, crossing the street. She passed by some french delicatessen “Paris Baguette” before he caught up.

“You didn’t even let me finish!” He exclaimed, a bit breathless.

“What’s there to explain?” She asked, walking backwards and throwing her arms up, almost throwing the key into traffic.

They were just a few meters from by the car by then.

“You could practice!” He said, walking by her side as she switched back to normal walking. “Go _play_ !” Get on Overwatch and just _chill_ there ‘till nine. I can pick you up on the way home when I finish study group.”

Her confused expression turned into one of disbelief and she scoffed as she looked back at him. “Are you crazy?” She tried to hand him back the key but he refused.

“My brother won’t mind, I swear,” he said, putting both hands up.

As they got to the car, she leaned on the hood of his car and crossed her arms. She raised an eyebrow before saying “Are you trying to weed out the competition, Dae-hyun?”

“Oh, please,” he scoffed, “you don’t even know what college you’d go to. I’m doing this because _this_ —” he pointed down to the key still in her hand, half-concealed between her arms, “is what you really want.” He grinned. “His internet is even good enough to stream and play at the same time.”

She let out a huff of exasperation and threw open her arms, dropping the key. “Where did this come from all of a sudden??”

Dae-hyun kneeled down to pick it up While he was on one knee, he said, “I thought about it in class today… After your _resistance_ to the idea of change.”

“Resistance? I was just being realistic.” She said, annoyed.

He grinned, putting the key in front of him as if it were a wedding ring. “And I’m here, _realistically_ giving you the opportunity to get what you want.”

She laughed, slapping his hand for him to cut it off. After he got up, she looked at him seriously. “How is me ditching study group and pissing off my mother in any way realistic?” She asked.

“She doesn’t have to find out,” he answered as he shrugged suggestively.

Hana frowned. “She _will_ when I fail the _NCATs._ ”

“Then don’t take them then.”

She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She threw her head back in a scoff before shaking her head and saying, “Dae-hyun, what has gotten _into_ you?”

He paused for a moment. “Hana, I’ve never seen you look so enthused and happy than when you talk about playing Overwatch.” He shrugged again. “I’ve only seen that same spark in someone’s eyes when Sol would try to explain human anatomy to me.”

“Your _doctor_ brother talking to you about bones and me talking about gaming are conversations on two _entirely_ different planes of existence,” she exclaimed. She looked behind her, as if expecting someone to intrude from the street, before turning back to Dae-hyun and glaring. “What do you think _he_ would think of me?”

“That you were just another kid following their dream like he was?” He said sheepishly.

“ _Dae-hyun!_ ”

“He’s barely ever there,” he pleaded, two hands in front of him trying to calm her down, the still key held between his right index and thumb. “And besides,” he grinned again, leaning beside Hana and motioning the key towards her, “He already said he was okay with it.”

“What???” Dae-hyun’s faced looked amused, like he couldn’t tell if her replied was filled with anger, disbelief, fear, anticipation, or a mixture of the four. She guessed she couldn’t either.

“Yeah, I texted him during class,” he replied matter-of-factly.

“I don’t— I just— I can’t—” She scrambled for the words to come out of her mouth but any semblance of reasoning was totalled. As she tried to gather her thoughts, she looked around and began to notice that some of the passersby were staring at them. Her face fell.

“Hana…” He said, almost melancholically. She pushed herself off the car and to stand in front of him. He raised an eyebrow before, waiting for her reply, but she sighed and leaned back on the hood.

She glanced down and then stared him straight in the eye. “And what if I do this?” The words didn’t quite come out as a whisper, but they were lower than the tone she had been using so far.

Dae-hyun coughed and scratched his head, but his soft expression pressed her to continue.

“What if I’m not good enough? And people don’t care enough to watch? And I completely throw away any chance of having a back up plan because I put in all into some _crazy_ fantasy?” She scoffed at herself.

“But what if you _do_? And you _are_ good enough, and people _do_ care, and you end up doing something you _love_ and prove to your mom that you can _like_ doing something and _make_ good money at it?”

She scoffed. “You don’t know that would happen.”

“You don’t know that other one you said would happen either.”

“What is it with you today and trying to get me to do all this crazy shit?” She tried to deflect.

He raised his eyebrows. “I remember you being _specifically_ on board with the other crazy shit I proposed to you,” he said, pointing a Clinton thumb at her when he said “specifically.”

She looked away. “That was different.”

“How?”

She glared at him. “Well, for one, it isn’t going to single-handedly ruin my shot at going to college.”

This time Dae-hyun got annoyed and raised his voice. “You don’t even want to go!”

Hana stared at him before saying curtly, “I’m going back to school.” She pushed herself off the car again.

He grabbed her by the arm when she started to walk away. “Hana… C’mon.”

She shook off his grip. “Stop trying to change my mind!”

Dae-hyun’s eyes darted around as he tried to find something to say. Hana had already walked past the Paris Baguette and was already nearly back at the crosswalk when he straightened his back, and started to run back. He ran only enough for her to be able to hear him over the sounds of the street and shouted, “So you’re not gonna even try?”

Without looking back, she shouted, “Leave me alone, Dae-hyun!”

He started to walk behind her, if only to keep himself within shouting distance as he mockingly exclaimed,  “Ah! The fearless Hana Song, brought to her knees by the prospect of REAL LIFE HIGH RISKS!”

Hana frowned. The light was red.

“Oh, how the mighty fall!” Dae-hyun continued.

Hana clenched her fists and hastily pressed the light button on the pole.

Dae-hyun was pensive for a second. He could’ve reached her by then, but he stopped. He might regret what he shouted next so he stayed put. “Maybe you really aren’t as good as you think then!”

Hana whipped around so fast, _he_ nearly got whiplash from watching it. She paced furiously back to him and practically stabbed him in the chest with an index finger. “Are you deaf?! What did I _just_ tell you?”

Dae-hyun’s face was unreadable for the briefest of seconds. Then it turned soft. “Hana, be real with me...” he put his free hand on her shoulder, glanced down at the one still holding key and looked back up to her, a sparkle in his eye. “Take the key. One month. If your stream count doesn’t shoot up, I’ll personally tutor you for whatever prep you need.”

“One week,” she glared.

He grinned, holding up the key. “Two.”

Hana crossed her arms, looked around and sighed. She pinched the key off his hand. “Fine,” she said, “but if I come out of this with a bruised ego, I’m punching you in the face to make it even.” Dae-hyun smiled.

“You’re gonna do _great_.”

* * *

 

Dae-hyun left her on the street with the key, a text for his brother’s address and a wave goodbye. Hana stood in front of the crosswalk for a solid minute before she turned around and actually started walking.

He was right. She _was_ reluctant to accept it. Why? Was she actually scared? All things that kept running through her mind while she walked up the street, fidgeting with the orange key in one hand.

_648-14 Choryang 3(sam)-dong, Dong-gu, Busan, South Korea_

Ever so often she’d glance up at a sign, then back at her phone, looking Sol’s stupid apartment, even though she knew damn well it wasn’t any of those buildings.

“You just pass, like, that one 7-Eleven on the corner and turn in the street after it. Can’t miss it,” he told her before waving goodbye (one arm carrying the books he did actually forget) and walking in the opposite direction back to school.

The whole point of it was to practice, right? And besides, even if she had promised Dae-hyun an entire two weeks of this, she could just cop out if today didn’t work out. She knew her mom had some insane sixth sense for figuring whenever she was up to something; eventually, she always found out. And the punishment was not always fit for the crime.

This was something she wanted to do, right? Why did she even hesitate? Best case scenario she wouldn’t make nearly as much as some fancy doctor or lawyer, but she could probably hit the financially well-off accountant tier. Probably.

Was she holding herself back? She furrowed her brows at the thought and grimaced, shaking her head. The thought alone settled it. She gained a new sense of determination as she walked up the street. But she didn't want to go at it alone.

She walked past a church right before deciding to test something out, even though it was probably long-shot. She opened up her Battle.net chat app and didn’t have to scroll through many friends’ names before seeing a circular Mei Icon with  “d.znuts” in white next to it. The little ball that indicated availability was green. The grey activity box under her handle had the Overwatch logo on it and read “Quick Play: In game.” Hana quirked an eyebrow. She tapped the name.

 **[Song]:** dont u have tests to study for?

An instant reply.

 **[d.znuts]:** dont /u/?

Hana laughed as she walked.

 **[Song]:** i hope im not interrupting anything important

 **[d.znuts]:** oh not at all

 **[d.znuts]:** texting u is just one of the 7 things im doing rn

She got to the street just across the 7-Eleven Dae-hyun talked about, the one they’d usually walk to to get snacks before heading back to school.

 **[Song]:** and the others?

 **[d.znuts]:** all 6 are variations of kicking ass

 **[Song]:** jesus christ

The lights were red at the crosswalk, so she leaned on the pole as she smiled at the phone.

 **[Song]:** how many variations on kicking ass can one have

 **[d.znuts]:** 6, apparently

 **[Song]:** djdkckdndxksn

The lights turned green and she put her phone in her inside suit pocket before crossing the street. She was about to walk past the 7-Eleven completely before she turned on heels and walked in. She came back out with a six-pack of Nano Cola in one hand and a family-size bag of Doritos in a paper bag cradled in her other arm like a baby. She figured if she was barging in she might as well make herself at home.

She felt a buzz and tried to take her phone out but gave up after the hassle of trying to balance the six-pack and the paper bag in one arm. She shrugged and decided to answer when she got to the apartment.

The rest of the walk was quick. It was there just as Dae-hyun had said. She turned into the street some meters up from the 7-Eleven and the huge building was right at the end of it.

She walked through automatic glass doors and the concierge barely even looked at her when she passed by his desk. The entire building was air conditioned and the hotel-ish vibe that surrounded her (from either the excessive cleanliness, the fanciness of the whole décor, that new building smell) made her feel like she was on vacation. Something about the whole thing made her want to go to the beach.

She waited for one of the elevators and got in just as some fancy business man was coming out. They greeted each other with a nod as they passed. Once the elevator doors closed, Hana put down the six pack, pressed the button for the 32nd floor and got out her phone. She had two notifications from Battle.net.

 **[d.znuts]:** why do u ask tho

 **[d.znuts]:** u gonna play?

Hana smiled.

 **[Song]:** i should be logging in soon

 **[Song]:** i have a proposition

 **[d.znuts]:** oh worm?

 **[Song]:** yeah its a good one, i think

There was a small delay.

 **[d.znuts]:** im finishing up a match, give me a ring when u get on

 **[Song]:** and here i was thinking you were the queen of multitasking

Yuna didn’t reply after that, and Hana figured she was focusing on the match. She smirked and shook her head. Talking to her was… fun.

The elevator dinged when she got to her floor. She picked up the six-pack and got out, taking another three minutes to navigate the hallways trying to find the right apartment. It was the one with a fuzzy brown welcome mat with black blocky letters that read

DAMMIT JIM

I’M A DOORMAT

NOT A DOCTOR!

_What a nerd._

She had to put down the six-pack again to unlock the white door, precariously picking it back up to push the door open with her shoulder.

Sol’s place was _amazing_. She could see the ocean from out the huge windows across from the entrance, and the furniture between them was _superb_. She hastily took off her shoes with her feet and walked in.

The living room had a super professional décor, with rows and rows of medical books filling a huge metal bookcase lining one of the pastel blue walls. A very comfortable looking L-shaped white couch facing the windows served as the centerpiece for the room, along with a fuzzy black carpet underneath a glass coffee table decorated with stacks of medical journals. She left her messenger bag on the side table by one of the the arms of the couch and put the paper bag next to it before she slid over the living room’s wooden floor onto to the kitchen to put away the six-pack.

She was about to open the fridge door when, amongst pictures of Sol, Dae-hyun and their family, she saw a big yellow post-it note.

 _Dear Miss Song,_ it read.

 _Help yourself to whatever is in the fridge. I apologize in advance for the lack of options. If there is an emergency, feel free to contact me at +81 51-842-8349_.

Hana smiled. _A sweet nerd,_ she thought as she took the note off the fridge. She put away the six pack and started to explore the place.

The first two doors she walked into were no big deal: bathroom, guest bedroom. She stumbled upon what she figured was Sol’s bedroom, since it had at least a bit more personality than the other one, and then, finally, the last door revealed his magnum opus: his office. And boy, what an office it was.

The walls there were darker than the rest of the apartment, and they were decorated entirely with different niche movie posters. Hana only recognized a few. The wall directly in front of the door had a huge flat-screen TV atop a glass stand and two bean bags in front of them.

On the other two walls, opposite of each other, there were two desks: one nearly entirely covered by paperwork, with another row of medical books lining the wall, being held on either side by two dragon bookends; and the other one with his CPU, which—screw what Dae-hyun had said. Equal my ass. The thing was ten times better than hers, minimum!

She walked slowly towards it, as if in awe. She pressed the power button carefully. The computer came alive with a low hum and she smiled.

She wouldn’t mind living like this.


	2. Huh, that can't be good.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A day in the life of Yuna, I guess.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got kinda stuck writing this and I procrastinated a bit and i have done absolutely ZERO beta-reading for this one but hey, have at it lmao
> 
> Let's play!

There is such a thing as innate talent. 

Some people are born with a natural advantage, effortlessly triumphing over challenges faced, while others aren’t afforded such luck. Yuna was always quick to gloat about how she was a part of the first group: picking up the mouse and keyboard had been as natural for her as sucking on a pacifier. 

She was Gen Z, after all. For her, learning how to play (and win) games was as intuitive as solving a puzzle. Sure, Overwatch required some amount of finesse and precise hand movements, two things that weren’t exactly her biggest strengths, but those weren’t her main selling points either.

No. Having a fast reaction time doesn’t mean shit if you don’t already know what to expect. In a game where split-second actions can make or break a match, it’s not about how fast you are, but how  _ smart _ you play.  _ Strategy  _ trumps raw skill at any point in time. 

And strategy was everything Yuna was about.

The white light from her screen and the vibrant red that emanated from the window of her black CPU case colored her skin a bright pink. Her gaze was focused intensely on the match at hand, while her hands moved in controlled twitches over her (also glowing red) Razer DeathStalker chiclet keyboard and Logitech G502 Proteus Spectrum mouse, only stopping to take out long, dragged out sips of her water bottle whenever she got killed.

After playing for long enough, you can’t help but notice some patterns. Yuna started to notice the differences between low-skill and high-skill players, small tells in game play that gave her exactly the information she needed: how each person she played with (and against) approached the game and its characters.

Some Tracers played so well you didn’t even see them coming, because they’ve mastered the art of staying out of your field of vision if you’re too focused on the choke; others just picked her as last-resort to flail around contesting the point. 

The one she was going up against had just murdered her in her choice Widowmaker spot in the Nepal Shrine map, and she got a bit irked at that, as indicated by a huff before another drawn out sip of her water. She had zoned out for some seconds (not at all because she was pondering what sort of “proposition” that Song girl might have had for her) and hadn’t been paying much attention to the enemy team’s roster, failing to notice when one of them switched off to Tracer to counter her. 

But now, her death had updated her on their current situation. And, once she got respawned back into the MV-261 Orca aircraft that served as the spawn room for most Control maps, she switched out of Widowmaker. 

There is a reason Mei is a 3-star difficulty hero. 

Sure, anyone can pick her up and get in a few kills— her mechanics aren’t hard to learn or use. Except it’s not about just using them, is it? It’s all about  _ how _ . 

And, as much as Yuna would insist her innate talent was this natural intuition for the game, that wasn’t exactly it. What she thrived on was hoarding knowledge, picking up small details, and making split-second connections. 

Thinking ahead. 

And that’s exactly what she did once she got back into the fray. This Tracer kept trying to flank, to go after players who had strayed from the bunch. That’s her job, anyways.

She went behind one of the healthpack room’s, after the team’s Zenyatta, just as Yuna was getting to the entrance of the room by the stairs. Over the mic, the Zen shouted that there was a Tracer after him, and Yuna told him to backpedal back to the open.  

And as he did, the Tracer followed. Yuna waited patiently, hiding just left of the entrance. And she killed off the Tracer with a scoff and a mental image of that one John Mulaney  _ Kid Gorgeous _ bit where he exasperatedly holds the microphone in both hands and shouts “That’s what I thought you’d do, you dumb fucking Tracer!”

The Zen thanked her and the two of them proceeded to get back onto the point, which was just awfully calm as the enemy players would try to face them one by one, instead of trying to form any cohesive group strategy.

It wasn’t a tough match and, by the end of it, Yuna stretched and yawned. She looked over at the small digital clock glowing a faint green on the left of her desk and saw the time. 

04h27 p.m.. The wave of sleepiness was hitting her just in time, given her usual bedtime at 5 p.m. on Mondays. She looked back over to the Overwatch chat and pressed Enter, scrolling upwards to see the messages Song had sent her a few minutes ago. She sucked in air through gritted teeth, nodding, and thought to herself,  _ okay, if she doesn’t show up ‘till five, I’ll call it a day _ .

She minimized Overwatch and opened up Twitch, deciding to take a break from actually playing and just lay back and watch as other people played the game. As much as it was an off-time for her brain, what with her not being as actively involved in it as she would’ve been if she were playing, it was hard to completely shut it off the part of her mind that kept thinking strategy. 

Strategy was, after all, her biggest talent. But, as one Madeleine L’Engle once said, “we can’t take any credit for our talents. It’s how we use them that counts.” And all of that natural talent is useless if you don’t put in the effort.

Yuna would rather die before admitting it, but she  _ had  _ put in a  _ lot  _ of effort.

The thing about noticing patterns, for one, is that you have to look long enough for them to even show up. And Yuna had thousands of hours on that, both in game and from watching other matches, as she was right then. That wasn’t something that she had just figured out naturally; it required her to be  _ constantly _ updated on patch changes, the current meta, the strategies everyone was using. 

It would get to a point where she nearly grabbed screen whenever she noticed something, like right then, when she saw a McCree flanking, before the streamer did, which ended up biting him in the ass.

“Oh my god?!” She yelled. “Are you blind? He was  _ right _ there!”

It was only when she started to put those keen observation skills into practice, once she began to notice the patterns, that her reaction time got exponentially faster. 

You’d be surprised how easy it is to kill off an enemy Widowmaker once you know how to predict exactly which high ground she’ll be grappling onto (like that Tracer had done with her). 

Or how intuitive it gets to, say, distract the one  _ actual _ threat in the enemy team from killing off everyone, because you knew their ego got in the way and they  _ needed _ to kill you off. How amusing it is to just lead them away from the fight. #WasteTheirTime2k18. 

And, by the time they notice what you’re doing, it’s too late and your team won.

Most of the time.

She smirked at the memory just as she saw the Overwatch tab flash orange.

**[Song]:** okay so im like

**[Song]:** how good is ur setup

_ How good is my setup?  _ She let out a scoff, trying to think of something clever to say.

**To [Song]:** dippy fresh

**[Song]:** be real bitch

She let out a soft smile. 

**To [Song]:** pretty good actually, custom-built

**To [Song]:** has /all/ of those sweet sweet specs

**To [Song]:** why? urs?

Radio silence for almost a minute. Yuna looked back over at the clock and started to take another sip of her almost empty water bottle when the answer came through.

**[Song]:** id say it kicks 6 out of 7 asses

The reply almost made her choke and got the top half of her black T-shirt drenched.  _ It wasn’t even that funny _ . She put the bottle back on the desk and typed out:

**To [Song]:** dfhdksfjdkhjg touché

Yuna lived in one of those shipping container apartment complexes. The kitchen (if a fridge next to a counter with a built-in top cooktop, dishwasher and sink could be called a kitchen), bathroom and doorway were just a few steps to the left of her desk, while the other side of the container’s walking space (which wasn’t filled with stacks of cardboard boxes or half-empty take-out containers, or a small dog pillow and food tray) was occupied by the permanently-in-the-out-position fold-out couch bed she had in front of her TV stand. 

A few wall shelves (filled with assorted knick knacks), cabinets and shoddily hung up posters (for various games, bands and movies) decorated three of her walls, and thick black drapes in the last one concealed one single floor-to-ceiling window that faced outwards towards the city. 

She took off her Razer Kraken 7.1 V2 headset (one of the two headsets that were on her desk), putting it on top of the keyboard, and rolled her chair over to her half-open closet, which was just behind her. 

She went through her drawers in messy fashion, pushing shirts into the walls of the drawers in such a way that they started to look like cake batter after being stirred, and she couldn’t find a single shirt she liked. So, she got out of her chair, rolling it back to her desk with a kick, and walked over to a small pile of cardboard boxes near her bathroom door. 

She fumbled around one labeled ‘Clothes’ until she finally found one she could use and quickly changed into it while walking back to her desk. She sat down, putting on her headset, as she read the new messages.

**[Song]:** for real though

**[Song]:** i want to stream, like for money

**To [Song]:** like a cam girl?

**[Song]:** yeah like a cam girl

**[Song]:** NO idiot

**[Song]:** like an overwatch streamer

Yuna laughed again, making sure not to be drink any water. Her eyes darted around the room as she tried to think of a response.

**To [Song]:** u should do it

**To [Song]:** gamer boys would eat u up

**To [Song]:** a next-generation Geguri you’d be

She looked over at the clock again. 04h32 p.m.. She bit her lip as she waited for a response.

**[Song]:** fdkfhdjsf we’ve played like one match together

**To [Song]:** yeah but i went against u for like 10

**[Song]:** maybe u just suck 

**To [Song]:** i /know/ im good

**To [Song]:** and thats how i know youre just as good too

Something about the conversation felt odd. But, they’d known each other for, what? Fifteen hours at most? Like, obviously she didn’t know this Song girl from Eve, so she couldn’t really ascertain the tone of what she was saying, but a part of her felt that, because she was talking about this to some random stranger on the internet, that there was something about it that was bothering her.

**To [Song]:** is ur setup bad for streaming?

**[Song]:** no its 

**[Song]:** its not my setup

Yuna quirked an eyebrow.  _ Who’s in the way, then? _

**[Song]:** okay, so im at a friends brothers house using his computer

The messages all came in a barrage, but Yuna’s face had a unique reaction to all of them. It was like looking at a stop-motion animation of a character going through increasingly growing states of surprise. 

**[Song]:** my friend just basically told me to follow my dreams and focus on overwatching instead of studying

**[Song]:** and he said he’d cover for me in school but i’m just straight up hiding it from my parents

**[Song]:** and i /know/ im going to get caught

**To [Song]:** wait

**To [Song]:** are u using ur friends computer or his brothers

**[Song]:** how is that relevant

**To [Song]:** oh just curious

**To [Song]:** but,,,, what is it? day 1 of u trying this out?

**[Song]:** yeah

**To [Song]:** so its a little white lie

**To [Song]:** no ones getting hurt right?

**[Song]:** technically all lies can cause harm

**[Song]:** (zenyatta voice)

**To [Song]:** can they really

Yuna smiled. The girl seemed a distressed but hey, at least she still joking about it.

**To [Song]:** zenyatta wouldnt say that jkfhdfkjs

**[Song]:** well they all have the capacity to cause harm

**To [Song]:** hes woke enough to know better

**[Song]:** if a situations--dkjsldkkd ur right he woudlnt

Yuna quirked an eyebrow at Song’s use of the double dash to indicate that she had been interrupted mid-writing of the text. She hadn’t ever seen anyone  _ else _ use that.

**[Song]:** but his voice sounds like it would

**To [Song]:** genji would tho

**[Song]:** lshkdklsdj

**[Song]:** if a situation just so happened to shake out, a la sitcom, that a lie was misplaced just so and was misinterpreted just so that a chain of events etc etc

**To [Song]:**  with that kind of butterfly effect logic

**To [Song]:**  i could’ve been responsible for trump becoming president

**[Song]:** if that were true i would have to kill you

**To [Song]:** why? the damage has been done

**[Song]:** Preventative Measures

**To [Song]:** djhkfhjfjksd

Yuna stared at the screen and rubbed her chin before she sent out the next text. 

**To [Song]:** but seriously, tho

**To [Song]:** do u wanna talk about it in voice?

**To [Song]:** we can play some matches and see how u feel 

The reply felt like it took  _ forever _ to come, even though it was probably just, like, one minute.

**[Song]:** yeah

**[Song]:** okay

_ Song started playing Overwatch.  _

Yuna smiled and pressed enter, already moving over her cursor above Song’s name in the chat. It flashed orange before she right-clicked and invited her to a group. The faded green bar over Song’s icon slowly depleted and Yuna thought she wouldn’t join, but then she heard the characteristic  _ ding _ and Song’s icon turned back into solid colors.

_ Song joined the group. _

_ Joined group voice chat - open mic. 2/2 players _

_ Press P to access channels. _

“Before I proceed as your newly appointed psychologist,” Yuna started, “I am legally required to know your name.” 

She heard a chuckle from the other side of the mic. “It’s Hana.”

“A pleasure to officially meet you, Miss Hana,” she replied and, even though Hana couldn’t see her, mimicked writing down patient information on a notepad. “Doctor Devil Bitch is on call,” she said, queueing up a match. “How can I be of assistance?” 

Hana laughed on the other end before sighing.  “Your parents don’t care what you do, do they?”

Yuna looked down while gritting her teeth and simultaneously raising her eyebrows. “In a  _ way _ ,” she said. “Why do you ask?” She played around the Hero Gallery while waiting for Hana’s answer.

“Well, ‘cos either they didn’t care or you’re hiding this from them just as much as I am from mine.”

“Oh, I, I live alone,” she said with a sad smile. “There isn’t really much I need to hide.” 

Hana scoffed. “What? How  _ old  _ are you? Figures I’d be talking to some forty year-old with a paid off-mortgage and a 401k.”

Yuna smiled to herself. “I’m not  _ forty _ .”

“Sixty-five?” 

Yuna scoffed this time. “I happen to be  _ eighteen _ .”

“Wow, so young and already you have a degree in psychology?”

“Does vexing me making you feel any better?”

Hana laughed.

“Good! Think about how much you’ll be able to do  _ that _ if you keep up this newfound plan of yours.”

“I hate that that sounds like a compelling argument.”

“People hear what they wanna hear,” Yuna shrugged. “And you, my friend, want to play Overwatch.”

They laughed, and there was a pause before a match finally queued up. They played in a relative silence, only doing the general callouts here and there, and smoothly rode the payload in Rialto to a quick victory. 

While waiting to attack in the Watchpoint: Gibraltar spawn room, Yuna asked, “Did you get sick from lying yet?” Yuna looked around as most of the other players were messing around saying Hello’s and Hi there’s to each other, but Hana still hadn’t picked out a character. 

“It’s not the  _ lying  _ that gets to me,” Hana replied. There was something almost melancholic in her voice.

“I know,” Yuna cut her off, nodding (both with her own head and, unconsciously, with her mouse in game). “It’s what’ll happen if you get caught.”

“Yeah, like…” Hana sighed. “Oh, it would be  _ hell _ .”

“Yeah?” 

“I could just say goodbye to any and all electronics for the rest of my school year, probably.” She paused before choosing to pick Pharah and having Yuna walk up to her as Mei. “Or maybe ‘till after I was done with college.”

“Yikes,” Yuna said, sucking in air through gritted teeth. “You’ve probably heard this before, but couldn’t you try like, convincing your parents? Like, go all out on them. ‘I  _ have to _ play. The game isn’t just in me. It  _ is _ me!” She gestured in front of her with her mouse as she spoke, making her Mei seem like she was having a stroke.

Hana laughed. “From  _ Coco?  _ Really? You  _ know _ he was the villain in that, right?”

“He did get what he wanted, didn’t he, though?”

“Only after  _ murdering _ , and proceeding to steal from, his more talented partner!”

Yuna smirked. “Is that a threat?”

“It’s cute that you think you’d be the more talented one in this partnership.”

“So this is, officially, a partnership now?”

“Don’t get cocky about it. You’re still on probation.”

Yuna feigned distress. “On  _ probation? _ Whatever will I do?”

“I’m leaving now.”

As the clock’s countdown inched closer to zero, the rest of the team started to walk over towards the exits. “The match is just about to start. You can’t just leave! You’re stuck with me out of societal convention.”

“You underestimate how much I care about societal conventions,” Hana quipped.

“So,” the match officially started and the team jumped out of the high ground just as Yuna got out her reply. “That’s a yes on defying your parents?” 

She heard the scoff from Hana on the other side and smiled. 

They kept that pattern for nearly the next few matches: mostly quiet during them, only speaking to call things out, and then talking about god and everything else while they were queueing up. 

“So, what does ‘Song’ come from? Are you, like, some generic music aficionado?”

Hana scoffed. “If I had made the same hasty conclusion about your own handle, we wouldn’t be here, would we?”

“Am I wrong?”

“Yeah,” Hana replied. “I was classically trained in piano for 12 years. After a while, you kinda lose the interest.”

“So, it’s not about music?”

“It’s just my last name, dofus.”

“How  _ original _ .”

“‘Cos yours is so damn unique, huh?”

Yuna laughed. “Fair, but at least it has some tactical advantage to it. You can’t yell at ‘d.znuts’ without sounding like a moron.”

“Oh, I  _ bet  _ you made that decision completely based on strategic reasoning.”

“It’s a real thing!”

“Tenuous, at best.”

“What would you have me change it to, then?”

“ _ Literally _ anything else.”

Yuna grinned. “Anything?”

She could practically hear Hana shaking her head. “No, no, not anything. I take it back.”

“Damn. I was just about to change it to—”

“Don’t even tell me.”

“Okay,” still grinning.

Hana sighed. “Okay, what was it?”

“Nope, you told me not to tell you.”

“I changed my mind.”

“Too bad,” she shrugged, smirking to herself.

“ _ Bitch _ …”

“It’s  _ Doctor  _ Bitch, thank you very much.” The two of them laughed. After they stopped giggling, she said, “I didn’t actually have a stupider one.”

“I thought you’d be one to come up with stupid things on the spot.”

“No, you kinda need a permit for that kind of dangerous thinking,” she quipped.

“See,  _ that’s  _ what I’m talking about.”

“Hey, it’s endearing!”

“It’s  _ annoying _ …”

“Fine, fine. I’ll behave,” Yuna said, putting her hands in front of herself in mock defense, “No more quips from me.” 

Both were silent, the Overwatch idle sound the only thing playing in the background. Yuna was unconsciously biting her lower lip.

“I didn’t tell you to stop, though.”

Yuna’s smile went wide. “It’s cute that you’d think I’d listen.”

* * *

 

They’d been playing for a couple hours before agreeing on a short break to eat. Yuna switched between her wired Kraken and her wireless Man o’ War and was standing over the cooktop, frying some eggs and bacon. She heard an absurd amount of crunching coming from the other side of the mic.

“ _ Jesus _ , are you  _ trying  _ to make me go deaf?”

The crunching got exponentially louder. “Yef,” Hana said with a full mouth. 

Yuna smiled. “You know, junk food isn’t healthy for you.”

“What? You can tell what I’m eating from the noise alone?” Hana scoffed. “These could be Wheat Thins for all you heard.”

“The fact that you’re so defensive about it would tell me otherwise.”

Hana sighed dramatically. “If you  _ must _ know, these are Doritos.”

“What a cliché…” Yuna said sarcastically. “Meanwhile, I’m here cooking a hardy, soul-sustaining meal that would put any Miyazaki plate to shame.” Hana scoffed. “You know that one scene in  _ Howl’s Moving Castle _ , where he’s cooking breakfast for Sophie and the little kid?” Yuna started pacing around her apartment while she spoke, gesturing profusely. “Where the drawing looks _ so good _ you can practically  _ smell _ the food through the screen?” 

Hana let out a “Yeah...” and Yuna could picture her squinting her eyes in suspicion.

“That’s my breakfast right here.”

“Bullshit,” she replied, laughing. “No one can make food look as good as he does.” 

“You want proof, Song? I’ll send you a picture right now. Gimme me your Discord,” Yuna replied, tapping a finger on the sink countertop. 

“Sure, prove me wrong, bitch.”

Yuna smiled and ran over to her bed, jumping on it to get her phone. There were few notifications she had failed to see before that moment.

**Seo-yun [17h41]:** Hey, our switch is still up, right? I don’t have to go in tonight?

**PetBacker dude [18h03]:** Good evening, miss Lee. Your dog Beast is scheduled for pick up tomorrow, can you confirm this?

She swore with eyes wide and raised eyebrows, nearly slapping herself in the forehead. 

“What is it?” Hana asked. “Burnt yourself?”

Yuna laughed, sitting up on the bed. “No, no,” she said, taking a short pause to type out some replies, “I just remembered some things I have to do later.”

**To Seo-yun [18h41]:** yeah girl dont worry about it

**To PetBacker dude [18h03]:** Yes, I’ll stop by in the afternoon if that’s alright.

“Oh, yikes. Are you gonna log off? I just sent you my Discord through here.”

“Nah, don’t worry about it.” She walked over to her desk to look at the Overwatch chat. “Oh, it just came through.”

**[Song]:** its Song#3401

Biting her lip, trying not to make another comment on originality, Yuna sent in the friend request from her phone and Hana accepted it almost instantly. She walked over back to the cooktop, opening the camera app, and took a picture of the frying pan with her eggs and bacon (and her hand in the lower left foreground giving the camera the finger). 

“ _ Behold! _ ” She said over the mic, throwing out her arms in front of her and nearly singing her hand on the frying pan. 

“ _ Wooow, _ ” came an overdrawn reply. Then, a change in tone. “Ignoring the blatantly offensive gesture, that actually did make me feel hungry, though.”

“Told ya.”

“Quite the Masterchef.”

Yuna faked a couple of bows while putting her phone in her pajama shorts’ waistband. “Why, thank you, thank you very much.”

The two of them chuckled. There was some silence between them (if you could call Hana’s constant crunching “silence”) while Yuna grabbed a plate and fork from the overhanging cabinet. “I can hear the clinking, you really  _ are _ eating actual food, aren’t ya?”

“Did you think I just googled ‘eggs and bacon being fried’ and sent you the first image to pop up?”

“Anyone can be a catfish nowadays.”

“Ah, yeah, I forgot about the ever elusive market for breakfastses posing as other breakfastses— break _ fests _ ?” Yuna tried to quip as she sat back down on her chair. 

“Wanna try that again?”

“No, the message came across, I’m sure.” 

“Pfft.”

“You know,” Yuna said, with a mouth half-full and her fork in hand, gesturing to the screen, “if this partnership is gonna work out, you gotta give me a little credit.”

“I don’t know you from Eve.”

“Let me introduce myself, then,” Yuna said. “Hi, I’m Jared, I’m nineteen years old and I’ve never fuckin’ learned how to read.”

“Shut up, Jared.” She heard the smile in Hana’s voice. “Do you think quoting vines off a ‘vines that butter my croissant’ YouTube compilation counts as a substitute for a personality?”

Yuna laughed before replying with fake exasperation. “I am  _ appalled  _ that you’d think other people’s personalities aren’t  _ also  _ entirely based off of the media they consume.”

“Mine isn’t!” Hana exclaimed.

“Are you sure about that?” She asked in between bites. “‘Cos I’m pretty sure I recall you making a couple Overwatch references while we were playing earlier.”

“That’s different. We were  _ in _ the media in question. You’d relate to the experience.”

“And so far,  _ you’ve _ successfully ‘related’ to every reference I’ve thrown your way, if only in recognition of them.”

“Your point being?”

“Didn’t have one, really.”

“And how’s that  going for you?”

“Oh, pretty well, I’d say. I’m managing to annoy some rando I’ve met online.”

There was a pause before Hana retorted with, “If this conversation were a competition, I wouldn’t exactly say you’re coming in first.”

Yuna smiled. “If it wasn’t, would we keep trying to one-up each other after every other sentence?” 

She heard a soft scoff and grinned when Hana replied with a sarcastic, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Then maybe I’m wrong.”

“Maybe you are.”

Yuna smiled to herself as she looked down on her half-eaten eggs and scrambled them around with her fork absent-mindedly.

“Hey, are you almost done with your—oh, my god, let me do a you impression, hold on.” 

Yuna raised an eyebrow, amused. “I’m ready for it.”

“ _ Please _ tell me you made deviled eggs.”

“You know for a fact that they aren’t.”

“Oh, but it would work  _ so _ well.”

* * *

 

Their conversations did eventually progress from trying to one-up each other into actual honest questions about their interests and other, more personal aspects of their lives. Yuna was just coming out of listing a hundred different bullet points on why  _ Insatiable _ was a bad show.

“I just think they spend so much time focusing on her little,  _ whatever _ , with those two two dudes,” she said with a wave of her hand, “and they just waste  _ so _ much  _ time _ on it. It’s just… bad writing!”

“Whatever?”

“Oh, you know what I mean,” Yuna said matter-of-factly. “Problems with three people. Hill of beans.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

She raised an eyebrow, surprised. “Really?  _ Casablanca _ ?”

“I’ve never seen that movie.”

Yuna jerked her head. “You—” 

“No! It’s—it’s old!”

“Old? Oh, my god.” Yuna paused. “ _ Gone with the Wind?” _

“Nope.”

“ _ Citizen Kane? _ ”

“No.”

“ _ Dirty Dancing? _ ”

Hana laughed. “Nobody puts Baby in the corner.”

“I can’t believe you.”

“Not all of us are weird old movie buffs.”

Yuna rolled her eyes. “What  _ do _ you watch?”

“A little bit of everything,” Hana replied. “I live for horror and cartoons, though. Junji Ito? I would die for that man.”

“He’s more of a manga fellow, though, isn’t he?”

“He  _ is _ ,” she said, “but the way he writes them is so good I would effortlessly put them up against any of the horror movies that have been coming out recently.”

“Even  _ It? _ ”

There was a pause before Hana spoke again. “ _ It _ is a coming-of-age story that just  _ happens  _ to feature a murderous clown… It’s not about the horror, no matter what Stephen King fans try to say about it. It’s about their  _ journeys _ .”

“So you’ve read the book?”

“Yeah, when I was a kid. Despite some few, very specific, choice-cut idiotic scenes, I still think it’s a good coming-of-age story.”

Yuna laughed. “Do you read a lot?”  _ I have some good suggestions. _

“I’ve always focused a lot on school, you know?” Yuna nodded. “But it was a little thrilling to read something I wasn’t supposed to be. My friend’s brother used to help us a lot with that, actually.”

She raised an eyebrow. “The same brother whose apartment you’re in right now?”

Yuna heard the soft smile in Hana’s next words. “Yeah… He’s a good dude. Dae-hyun hardly ever talked about him anymore after he left for med school, so I even thought he’d moved away.” 

“You think he’s jealous?”

“Nah, not jealous,” came the reply. “I  _ do  _ think he feels pressured by being in his brother’s shadow…”

“I can imagine.”

“I know for a  _ fact  _ that he never told me about this place before today. He said I probably just forgot, but I  _ know _ . Hell, Yuna! It’s close enough to our school that it’s by the 7-Eleven we always get food in.” There was a hint of annoyance in her voice. “You’d think that would pop up in a conversation, but not  _ once _ !”

“Oh, you know how it is with  _ men _ ,” Yuna joked.

Hana laughed softly. “And it’s funny, you know? ‘Cos they had this super close relationship. I don’t think Dae-hyun was as close to anyone, other than me, of course, as much as he was to his brother.”

Yuna just nodded, more to herself than anything.

“And then Sol went off to med school, and it was like everything changed between them. And I know they’re still close—maybe not  _ as _ close, but they are.” A pause. “I can’t say this for sure, because I’m an only child so I don’t  _ know _ , but I  _ know _ that it hurts Dae-hyun to see his brother get all the praise from his parents.”

“Does he want to go into pro-gaming too?” 

Hana laughed. “No, he doesn’t have the kind of pipe dreams I do, but he also doesn’t want anything his parents’ do. Mechanical engineering might not be as high-status as being a doctor or lawyer, but it still is hella intense.”

“Oof, complex...”

“He’s, like, eighteen and already built a dozen or so contraptions from scratch.”

“So like an inventor?”

“Well, it was mostly just buying parts and building things that already existed, but yeah.”

“Still, takes a lot of skill.”

“I know, right? He just finished building this  _ amazing _ dirt bike I’m gonna use in a race.”

Yuna couldn’t contain her surprise. “You race?”

“Well, not professionally. Or to the knowledge of my parents. But yeah,” Yuna heard that same inflection in Hana’s voice again, the one that indicated that she was trying to contain a smile, “I do.”

“That is, by far, the coolest thing I’ve ever heard.” Yuna paused. “If you’re already so keen on defying your parents with a blood sport like that, how is this in anyway a step up?”

Hana sighed. “Dae-hyun asked me the same thing,” she half-laughed. “It’s all about the long term consequences, man. If I get caught racing, it’s a one time thing… chalk it up to teenage impulsivity…” She paused and sighed again. “But if I get caught  _ here _ ? It’s premeditation,  _ intent _ . It wouldn’t be some one time thing.”

Yuna’s expression softened. They were getting back into that conversation they’d been avoiding for most of the evening. “How bad would it be?” She asked empathetically.

“Oh, you know, no friends, no phone, no internet. School, in and out, straight back home,” she said, so matter-of-factly that made Yuna feel like she had experienced that before. “Mom might probably even hire a personal bodyguard to keep me on schedule,” Hana joked.

“Hey,” Yuna replied with half-empathetic, half-joking tone in her voice. “Worst comes to worst, you can move in with Dae-hyun’s brother, right?”

Hana had to stifle her laughter. “ _ Me _ ? Move with some rich doctor? You know what? That  _ would  _ probably make my parents shut up, actually.”

Yuna smirked. “See? I know what I’m talking about.” She giggled. “At first, the two of you would bicker over this new-found living arrangement,” she started, “but then, you’d slowly start to grow fond of each other, and the fake relationship that the two of you started with would blossom into a  _ real _ one.”

Hana couldn’t contain her laughter that time. “God, can you  _ imagine _ ? He’s, like,  _ thirty _ . Besides,” she said in between laughs, “I think there’s a  _ reason  _ he’s still not married, and it isn’t his love for his work.”

“Ooh,” Yuna said. “ _ Scandalous _ .”

* * *

 

The next few matches started to take a toll on Yuna, and she felt more and more tired with each passing second, but she refused to stop. Hana even made a few snide comments on their decrease in performance after a particularly bad loss. Fortunately, their gaming session was cut short at exactly 09h14 p.m..

“In my defense,” Yuna said as the cards started to flip on the screen, “I’ve been playing for way longer than you.”

“In general or today?? Because I will be very offended if you say ‘in general.’”

“Today, of course. I’ve been, uh, up a little bit past my bedtime.” 

“What? It’s like nine o’clock.” There was a pause before she said, “Oh,  _ shit _ ! It’s nine o’clock!”

She cancelled the match queue. “You got some place to be?” 

“Actually, I kinda do. I have to—” She was cut off by a distant voice coming from somewhere around her. 

“Hana?” It echoed, and Yuna assumed it belonged to some dude. Either Sol or Dae-hyun.

“Oh, that’s Dae-hyun,” Hana said. Yuna heard some interference before Hana’s voice, now distant, said, “Great timing, actually! I just came out of a match...”

“And I see you have completely taken over the place,” Dae-hyun said. Yuna let out a smirk. 

“What?” There was the sound of plastic bags being crumpled up and Yuna could barely hear the reply. “It’s just some chips!!”

“Don’t worry about it, Sol won’t mind. We’re already running late.”

“Oh, shit, hold on!” Yuna heard rushed footsteps coming back to the mic, and this time Hana spoke to her, “Hey, sorry, how much long are you going to be on for?”

Yuna looked back at her clock. “Uh, I think I’m gonna call it a day, actually,” she said.

“Catch up on your sleep?”

Yuna smiled. “Something like that.”

The two of them said goodbye to each other (and Hana even got Dae-hyun to say it too) before Hana logged off the voice chat and Yuna was left staring blankly at the screen.

_ Song has left the group. _

_ Song stopped playing Overwatch. _

She had to shake her head to get herself back into reality, and looked back at the clock. It was nearly three hours before she had to cover Seo-yun’s shift and the prospect of both the wait and the actual shift felt excruciating. She mentally berated herself as she closed off Overwatch and turned off the computer, pushing herself away from the desk with a sigh.  _ Okay, focus. _

She looked around her apartment, mentally slapping her forehead as she recited her mantra and her eyes darted around things she needed to fix. They went to the dirty dishes she’d left in the sink, and then to the cardboard boxes that she had promised herself she would have unpacked three days ago, and then over to Beast’s empty food tray. She groaned and walked over to the boxes, grabbing the one labelled ‘Clothes’ and haphazardly dumping it into her closet, not giving much thought as to what kind of clothes were being stuffed where. 

The box labelled ‘kitchen stuff’ had more little boxes within, all with brand new, never been used utensils inside. She opened up a box for a metal cutlery tray and stuck it in one of the cabinet drawers, throwing the plastic wrapper and the box near the door. She did the same for the small boxes of cutlery, actually taking time to diligently separate the different types into their respective slots in the cutlery tray.

It was tedious work, but it wasn’t very long before she had cleared out most of the boxes.

The final two weren’t labelled, and smaller than the rest. She stared at them for a solid minute, nodded to herself and turned around.

She looked over to her bed, considering whether it was worth taking a two hour nap before she went to work, and even half-pondered if she should ask Seo-yun to cover for her  _ again _ , but that would be very rude on her end, so she weighed her other options. 

Every muscle she had was hurting, which some might say was contradictory to the fact she had been sitting down for nearly twenty-four hours, but it was  _ exactly  _ what to expect. Every fiber in her body was  _ begging _ for sleep. She’d been up for nearly fifty-three hours, which was an entire five hours over her usual bedtime. And, trust me, if you’ve been up for forty-eight hours, any amount of time awake that goes  _ over _ that will feel like a punch to the gut once you lie down.

She walked over to her bed and plopped down, face first onto her pillow. Her entire body relaxed onto the mattress and, despite the way she was lying, half on top of wrinkled sheets, she didn’t feel the need to move. Her exhaustion trumped the seemingly inconsequential discomfort of lying over an uneven surface.

If she took a nap then, she would wake up feeling even worse, and probably wouldn’t be able to sleep decently afterwards, though she was so exhausted that the latter might actually not hold any impact. But the first was still a major hitter, since she needed to stay at her ‘peak-performance’ to go to work. If only to keep up appearances. 

So she decided to stay up.

But she was too exhausted to  _ do _ anything. She didn’t have the energy to deal with those boxes, or with the dishes, or with going out to buy dog food for Beast, or with really  _ anything  _ else at that point that required any amount of effort. 

She laid there for what felt like hours, until she felt her phone vibrate beside her. She begrudgingly took it out of its spot by her hips without raising her head. 

There were a few more seconds of her gathering the strength to actually turn her head towards her phone and look at it, and then groan when the clock said only three minutes had passed. But when she saw the Discord notifications, she jolted back up.

**[21h32] Song:** night loser

_ Song sent a picture [21h32]. _

It was a selfie, of all things. A girl with honey brown hair in a ponytail, which she assumed was Hana, smiled while doing the peace sign with her free arm, her other arm extended to capture the scene in its entirety. Beside her, a man with short black hair and thick eyebrows, which Yuna assumed was Dae-hyun, sat in the driver’s side, both hands on the wheel, and was making a face at Hana in mock disapproval. The two of them were wearing a uniform that Yuna felt like she’d seen before, but she couldn’t really identify it. 

But she didn’t dwell much on that, choosing instead to focus on Hana’s cute button nose and the way her eyes creased because of her little crooked smile.

The only thing she could think of before falling asleep was a  _ huh, that can’t be good. _

* * *

 

Yuna jolted awake in a sweat, eyes wide and zero train of thought other than  _ Shit! _ The first thing she thought to do was check the time on her phone. 11h53 p.m..  _ Oh, fuck. _ Underneath the clock, there were a series of notifications from the same person.

**Kang-Dae [11h47]:** Yuna, where are you? 

**Kang-Dae [11h47]:** Seo-yun said you’d be covering for her today! 

She dropped her phone and the bed while fumbling to get out of the sheets she had somehow got herself caught up in during her ill-advised nap, nearly tumbling onto the floor. After she regained her balance, she looked over to her closet.  _ Right, clothes, clothes. _

She had to claw her way through three drawers before she found a decent button-up shirt to wear for the cold night weather, and quickly put on some black jeans, socks, and grabbed her high heel boots. She fumbled with the sheets on her bed, finding her phone and grabbing a purple vest with white letters that spelled out “CU” on its left breast. She made sure that a tiny green and white name tag was attached to it and quickly turned back towards the door.

Her hands were already super full of crap when she grabbed a single solitary key ring from a bowl on the kitchen counter while kicking the discarded utensil boxes she’d left on the floor out of her path, clearing a path to the exit. She went  to lock the door behind her and looked down, realizing she still hadn’t put on her boots. After  _ that _ ordeal was done (in the most comical fashion you can imagine), she locked the door for real and rushed through the hallway.

Thankfully, the convenience store was just a eight minute walk from her place, even shorter if Yuna walked briskly (which she definitely did). Even though she was only out for some minutes, the cold night air cut her cheeks like daggers and made her nose a cute little red. She carried her vest in one clenched fist, while the other hand was busy trying to cover her neck with the collar of her shirt. 

Despite being nearly midnight, the city was still bustling. Neon signs adorned the buildings around her and people talked to each other energetically while walking through wet sidewalks. She had no idea if it had rained when she fell asleep earlier, but the proof was clear as day.

She walked around a corner and saw the bright lights coming out of the windows for the CU 씨유 Convenience Store on the other side of the street. A grizzled hair man, who wore the same type of purple vest she had, stood behind the glass doors with his face pressed against them, and raised his arms in exasperation when she saw him. She raised an eyebrow, waving back, and quickly crossed the street.

She pushed open the glass door, meaning to greet him, but instead heard him say, “Good  _ god _ , Yuna! What happened? The girls are waiting for me at home!”

“Calm down, Kang-Dae…” She tilted her head. “Why’re you here? Isn’t Sun the one covering the evening shifts?” 

He scoffed, gesturing for her to follow him. “Sun’s out sick, I’m afraid.”

As the two of them walked towards the counter through short aisles of convenience products, Yuna trailed her hand through a colorful mosaic of bags, boxes and cups of snacks and products expertly framed by grey shelving and highlighted by the fluorescent neon lights above them. 

Kang-Dae looked over at her with a curious expression. “How’ve you been holding up, Yuna?” he asked. “Your mind seems a bit far away today.”

She scoffed. “Does it?”

He smiled, giving her a knowing look. “I can tell.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Can you really?”

Kang-Dae smiled wide and shrugged, pretending not to be proud of himself. “I have a knack for these things.” They reached the green and white counter just as he said, “Besides, this is the first time I’ve seen you ask to trade shifts with someone while you’ve been here.” He paused. “So something’s up.”

Yuna laughed. “I haven’t been here that long,” she said matter-of-factly, leaning on the front of the counter while Kang-Dae walked behind it. 

“Long enough for me to see a pattern,” he replied while bending down to get something behind the counter.

Yuna played with the barcode scanner while she said, “Ah! Using my own tricks against me, are you?”

He laughed as he came back up, almost a guffaw. “Your  _ own  _ tricks, girl? I’m the one who taught them to you!” He was holding a dark coat in one hand and a hat in another. His eyes darted to her hands playing with the scanner and she quickly put it back on the stand, smiling sheepishly. He began to awkwardly put it on as he turned to her and said, “You know your situation isn’t really that usual, right?” He smiled. 

“I’m just another teenager aching for some quick money, Kang-Dae.”

He raised both eyebrows while walking back to the front of the counter to stand in front of her. He looked down at her, with an expression on his face that all but screamed parental disbelief, and said, “Teenagers don’t generally work the graveyard shift, Yuna.” 

Yuna shrugged before putting on her own vest. “Oh, you know what they say,” she said, walking to the back of the counter. “Wise beyond my years and what not.”

His expression softened. “You and I both know that’s not it,” he said.

Yuna turned her back to him to make a slushie for herself. Without looking back, she said, “Do you badger all of your employees like this, Kang-Dae?” 

The slushie machine whirred in the background as Kang-Dae put on his hat, brushing his hand through a few scattered grey hairs, and said, “It’s only natural for a manager to have a natural curiosity as to what goes on in his employees lives’.”

She gave a big sip out of the slushie’s red straw before pointing it at him. “Sounds like a surveillance state to me,” she joked.

Kang-Dae half-laughed before saying, “Just looking out for you, Yuna.” He was about to turn to leave before he looked back at her. “But really,” his gaze was so intense that she had to look away, “you okay?”

Her eyes darted down and she shrugged, “I don’t really know.”

A sad smile hinted at the edges of Kang-Dae’s lips. He nodded to himself and, turning to Yuna, said, “Don’t drink too many of those, you’ll catch a cold...” before waving goodbye and heading out.

Yuna waved back (with her slushie), and watched him as he walked towards the exit. She sighed and smiled to herself once he was gone, absentmindedly staring at the empty store around her.

The truth was, she really didn’t know what she was feeling. She stared blankly ahead of her, for what felt like an hour, at the same time thankful and annoyed that no customers stopped by to take her out of her trance. She was actually, completely alone. 

And when you’re left genuinely alone, no distractions, it’s hard not to think of things you’ve been trying to avoid. 

For the past few weeks, so much had changed in her life that she didn’t really know what to feel anymore. Her mind felt like it was burning papers but at the same time it was completely still. It was like chaos bubbling under a sea of calmness. There was just so much going on inside her that she couldn’t physically express herself. 

As much as she hated it, she could’ve stayed like that forever. In that limbo. Standing on top of the fine line between when you’re nearly about to cry, when you can feel the pressure building up against your eyes, and the tears stop just short of falling, with maybe only or two strays actually making it down your cheek. 

The only reason she stayed like that was because she knew, if she crossed that threshold, there was probably no coming back—from having to deal with feelings so strong that they overwhelm everything else. Some people liked to talk about that kind of stuff; it brought comfort to them to flesh it out and try and understand the roots of what they were feeling. But Yuna was not a vocal person.

The past couple of weeks, there weren’t as many “How are you’s?” as one would expect to get in her situation. She didn’t bring it up, she didn’t like mentioning— hell, she didn’t like even thinking about it for too long. She didn’t like the necessity of trying to explain herself to others whenever “I don’t know” was not a satisfactory answer. She was just being honest, after all. And she knew that didn’t mesh with most people.

But Kang-Dae? Kang-Dae got it.

Despite looking like a thirty something adult, Kang-Dae was nearly in his fifties. He had two little girls who Yuna used to play with as a child, and he had been more than happy to give her the job when she approached him, no questions asked.

And she adored him for it. He’d been around her family for long enough to know her (almost as well as he knew her parents), and he was well aware she didn’t care much for people prying into her life. He’d been there when her parents’ grieved, and he knew how it went. 

It was an unspoken conversation between them, how he’d leave her in quiet contemplation of whatever clusterfuck of emotions she was feeling, and brought her the levity of admitting she didn’t really know and that she didn’t have to. 

Which only made Yuna feel worse for keeping things from him. 

I mean, it wasn’t like she was  _ actively  _ hiding something, right? He asked how she’d been, not if she had moved out from her parents’ house because she couldn’t stand being around it anymore. 

She spent most of her shift in that limbo state, feeling all too much but looking completely numb on the outside. Despite Kang-Dae’s generosity, being there was just another reminder. She snapped out of it a couples of times, distracted by the few late night customers that stopped by the store.

About an hour before dawn, a group of clearly inebriated tourists weighed their options amongst the snack aisle and went up to the counter to ask her opinion on what kind of chip would pair best with being dipped in  _ kimchi-jjigae _ , and she had to physically contain herself from replying that that was the stupidest question she’d heard in her short tenure at CU. 

After they left, she had an urge to text someone about the experience, and her mind immediately went to Hana. She got out her phone and tapped on the Discord app.

**[05h12] d.znuts:** you would not believe how dumb tourists are

**[05h12] d.znuts:** do people just straight up dip chips in stew??

**[05h12] dz.nuts:** like, is that a thing??

She didn’t really expect an instant reply, but she decided to spend the rest of her shift distracting herself by cataloguing inventory in her head. At around five forty-five, the day shift kid showed up to relieve her of her duties. She made small talk with him for a few minutes, not really knowing him all too well (and not really caring), and waved goodbye before walking out onto the street.

It was only when she left the CU that she realized how  _ exhausted _ she was. 

A walk that usually took her eight minutes took nearly twice as long as she sluggishly made her way back to her apartment. Every step she took felt heavy, and it didn’t help her discomfort that the balls of her feet ached like she had spent the last six hours standing on nails. He eyes stinged from staying up too long and she had to rub them a few times because just blinking wasn’t enough to keep them moisturized anymore.

She turned into the street of her apartment with a weary look of recognition, as if she’d been sojourning through a desert and had just found an oasis. She sighed and picked up her pace, making her way across the street and hastily greeting the doorman inside. 

She nearly passed out leaning on the side of the elevator while it rode up, jolting herself awake every couple of seconds, but finally managed to reach her front door. 

She was just turning her key in the lock when she felt her phone vibrate in her back pocket. 

And just like that, it was like all her exhaustion had disappeared. She reached for her phone with cat-like agility. She typed out her answers with a dumb smile on her face, mechanically walking into her apartment.

**[06h16] Song:** do u like? never sleep?

**[06h16] d.znuts:** nope

**[06h16] d.znuts:** im actually a vampire

While she waited for a reply, she took off her boots and switched back to her sleeping clothes, which she had left oh so conveniently scattered along the floor.  

**[06h18] Song:** i pegged you more of a demon

**[06h18] d.znuts:** kinky

**[06h18] Song:** god, shut up

As much as she didn’t want to admit it to herself, she was  _ dying _ of curiosity to see what Hana typed out next, but her eyes could barely keep themselves open anymore and her entire body was begging for mercy.

She didn’t even see how she went from standing in the middle of the room to lying on her bed. 

Had she waited a little bit longer, she would’ve gotten the string of messages that Hana sent out just a few moments after. She didn't even notice the phone vibrating beside her, screen flashing with every notification, as her brain shut down in preparation for a much deserved rest.

**[06h22] Song:** ure gonna be online tonight right?

**[06h22] Song:** i’m gonna get off at 4, usual time

**[06h22] Song:** but youll probably already be in game by then lmao

**[06h34] Song:** did u die??

And while that happened, in that moment between being in complete control of her train of thought and gently leaning into a relaxed autopilot, when thoughts started to more or less be passively broadcasted  _ to _ her instead of actively coming  _ from _ her, Yuna began to hear detached sentences in the voices of people she had interacted with that day, as she always did. 

And she didn’t even fight it when most of them started to sound like Hana.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To paraphrase Ben Wyatt, “Alex Riftwalker has never had a real job in her life.” Which means I have no idea how shifts work or any of those other things but that is not the POINT of this, so yeah.
> 
> in case anyone's wondering (which i doubt) the reason some of the timestamps in texts come through differently is because its supposed to be different apps (like, general msgs vs. discord or whatsapp) but like thats just, in case anyone wonders
> 
> (i havent slept in like 2 days either so lmao, one can imagine how im feeling right now)
> 
> Thanks for playing!


	3. Cocked and loaded.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some days, boys, some days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm very late, dialogue is hard, school is killing me, and i'm slowly dying, but its HERE (once again, if there are any mistakes, call 'em out to me, etc etc)

The next time Hana heard any sign of life from Yuna, two days had gone by. 

Initially, she didn’t take much notice. The day after she and Yuna played, she headed out of the school building with Dae-hyun as they always did, catching him up on how the two of them were actually really great together. 

“God, you should’ve  _ seen _ us playing,” she said, mimicking her head exploding, as they headed down the entrance stairs of their building. “I swear, you gotta slack off one night and play with us, the matches were all so… so  _ intense _ .”

“Pray tell.” Dae-hyun was wearing an unusual cheshire grin on his face that Hana couldn’t help but notice, but chose to ignore as she told him about some of their matches.

“I mean, really, we’d lose some, we’d win some, mostly because we couldn’t coordinate that well with out team, but almost 90% of the time we strategized  _ together _ , it was… fucking insane how god damn  _ well _ it would work!” 

“Yeah?”

“Yeah! I mean, she usually only plays Mei, right?” Dae-hyun nodded. “For some reason, she decided to play Sombra during this one match where we were attacking Numbani, which annoyed me and most of the team, but we ran with it, like, okay, it’s just quick play.

“So, I was calling out how my N.ette’s self-destruct was ready and she told me to wait to use it and aim for the point, and I was like, okay, I guess. The other team was just, _ shield-palooza,  _ Dae-hyun: Reinhardt, Orisa, Brigitte, all of them heavy hitters, you know how it goes.

“I’m staring at the point, waiting for her signal, and I just see that scrawny Sombra model jumping onto the point in stealth mode just as she says, as calm as, I don’t even know, some, military officer giving out orders or something, she says, ‘okay, ult  _ now. _ ’

“A second or so after I do, my mech’s flying up there in the air, right? I can see the Reinhardt look up to adjust his shield accordingly and I’m thinking to myself ‘shit, he’s gonna block it’, but then Yuna hacks  _ everyone _ on the point, and I get out of that match with a  _ sextuple  _ kill.”

After she finished the story, Dae-hyun let out a cheeky guffaw and tried to play it off by coughing but Hana noticed.

She raised an eyebrow, amused. “What?”

He shrugged, looking down and smiling to himself. “Oh, it’s  _ nothing _ ,” he said, purposefully enunciating words for a little longer than normal, “you just sound, hmm… very  _ enthusiastic _ about all this.” He punctuated the sentence with a wide grin.

Hana scoffed, shaking her head at him incredulously. “Wasn’t that the whole point of it? Is it _ bad _ that I’m excited??” Her expression turned to one of concern. “You don’t think this is gonna work out?”

He put his hand ups against him defensively and said, “no, no, no, no, no! None of that!” His smile got, somehow, wider, and he leaned in, speaking in a sing-song voice. “It’s just, I don’t think getting into the pro-gaming scene is the  _ only _ thing that’s upping your endorphin levels.”

She laughed then, slightly shaking her head. “What are you —what are you even talking about?” 

Sporting that same cheshire grin, Dae-hyun shrugged and raised his eyebrows, looking away as he said, “just sounds like someone has a crush, that’s all.” 

Hana scoffed before punching him in the arm. “Shut  _ up. _ ” 

“I’m just  _ saying _ you don’t usuall—” Dae-hyun was cut off by Hana jolting in surprise and stopping in her tracks. “What’s up?”

Hana took her phone out of her pocket, motioning to Dae-hyun that was the reason she was startled. “Someone’s texting me,” she said.

He smiled again, tauntingly. “It’s her, isn’t it?” He said while she scrolled down on her screen with her thumb. When she pursed her lips, his tone changed, but only slightly. “Not her?”

Hana looked back at the school building, scoffing and shaking her head. “I gotta go to some dumb important ‘emergency meeting’,” she said.

“Model UN club?” He asked, and she nodded her head. He sucked air through gritted teeth and said, “yeesh, still haven’t gotten out of that?”

She shook her head as she started to walk backwards up the staircase. “Nope,” she said. Dae-hyun kept standing still at the bottom of the staircase, clearly unsure of how to proceed, until Hana cupped her hands over her mouth like a megaphone and shouted over to Dae-hyun, “go eat without me! I’ll be out soon!”

He laughed and waved goodbye, and Hana saw him start walking out of the school gates before she turned around and, with a heavy sigh, made her way towards the Model UN Club meeting room.  A club she didn’t even want to  _ be in _ in the first place .

It was dead silent when she walked in, and no one else seemed to know what was about to go on. She threw her messenger bag on an empty chair and sat in another one beside it, glaring at anyone else who walked in and even  _ considered _ taking her messenger bag’s spot. 

As the room filled up, a slow stream of low murmurs started to pop up while Hana looked at her phone, annoyed.  She tapped the Discord icon to send a text to Yuna, telling her she’d be late, and quirked an eyebrow when she saw that the small circle above Yuna’s picture (which Yuna had, somewhere in between when they last spoke, changed to a photoshopped picture of Mei with red eyes surrounded by flames) was greyed out.  _ Huh. _

Before she could dwell on it, the meeting started with a bang of the gavel by a boy she was  _ certain _ wasn’t the acting director of the club. A boy Hana couldn’t even name if she had a gun to her head, which wasn’t really that special considering how little she cared for the other students in the club.

“I’m sorry to call out a meeting in such short notice,” he started, “but our current acting Director has left the country.” 

When news hit the floor, two thirds of the people around the conference table bursted into a confusing mess of anxious questions murmur-shouted over one another. Hana rolled her eyes, arms-crossed and sitting with both legs sprawled across one of the few vacant chairs.

Gavel boy banged his gavel again, ordering silence. “Ji Yeon is going away on an exchange program and was so busy with the detail that she forgot to pick a replacement for her in her absence. As interim Director, I’ve called upon this meeting to determine who the Club wants to endorse to become the next Director.”

There was a pleasant silence while many of the members pondered, only few scattered murmurs here and there, until it was finally cut by one of Hana’s colleagues, Eunji, who stood up and directed her words towards the room.

“I would like to nominate Song Hana to fill in the position,” she said, and everyone in the room turned to look at Hana.

Hana uncrossed her arms and straightened herself in her chair, glaring at Eunji.

She’d never really liked Eunji all that much, an emotion that was only amplified due to the fact that they’d somehow been stuck in the same classes together for most of their high school education and, because of that, Hana had come know Eunji for the best and worst parts of her. 

“She’s one of the oldest members and,” Eunji said, and paused to look at Hana. 

At that moment, Hana’s mind was entirely devoted to three facts: first, Eunji was unbearably competitive and yet inapt to do so, to the point where, no matter what she tried, she’d always end up in second place; second, there was a part of her, and Hana didn’t know how strong that part was, that _hated_ Hana for being top of her class and yet another personification of Eunji’s own inability to be the very best; and third, that endorsement was a thinly-veiled thesis statement for something far, far worse that was to come.   
“If she’s as diligent in her studies as she is in managing things, her performance in supervising the club’s affairs would be more than stellar.”

Hana furrowed her brows, internally having a small panic attack but trying her best to keep it together.  _ Oh god, does she know? _

She was just about to interject when gavel boy ( _ God, what was his name?? _ ) raised his hand and said, “We appreciate the nomination, Eunji, but Hana’s graduating this year, and I’m not sure she’d have the time to uphold a proper term.”  _ Bless his gavel boy heart. _

Eunji darted her head over from Hana and then back to him. “But,” she said, almost pleadingly, “the school year just started, don’t you think that’s enough time?”  _ What? Is she  _ genuinely _ trying to screw me over? _

He shrugged. “Well, it’s up to the club members to decide. Any other members would like to come forward to nominate themselves or another candidate?” 

For the few seconds that the room was silent before gavel boy made his pronouncement, Eunji stared daggers at Hana and, for one instant, Hana definitely considered nominating Eunji for the position. 

But she stayed quiet and, when no else showed any indication that they would offer someone to run against her, gavel boy spoke. “Alright then, show of hands then. All those in favor of Hana Song becoming our newest director?”

Clearly more than half of the room raised their hands, mostly naive 1st years who had a weird admiration for both Hana and Eunji and knew absolutely nothing of them other than that. Eunji let out a despicably pleasant smile, tilting her head to look over at Hana. 

Gavel boy nodded as he counted the votes in his head and then said, “alright, miss Song, you’ve clearly have the support of the club to become its new acting Director, what is your position on it?”

Hana sighed and stood up. “I would like to…” She looked around the room before saying, “politely decline.” Eunji furrowed her brows at that and Hana smiled internally. “For those who aren’t exactly caught up, the duties and responsibilities of acting directors far exceed the weekly time frame we have allocated to dedicate to our studies. And, because of that,” she leaned her body forward then, putting both hands on the table and looking directly at Eunji. “I would also like to announce my resignation as a member of the club, effective immediately.” 

This time, most of the members were dead silent and gavel boy— _ Ah, Minjae, that’s what his name was!  _ Minjae looked at her, a confused frown on his face. “Ar —are you sure about this?”

“You know, you’re right, Minjae. I  _ am _ graduating this year,” she said as she threw the strap of her messenger bag over her shoulders and started to walk towards the door. She smirked, turning back just to make direct eye contact with Eunji and shake her head. “I  _ really _ need to focus on my studies.”

Hana walked with faked confidence out of the conference room, heart pounding so fast with adrenaline to the point she could  _ feel  _ the throbbing of her jugular. When she was out of sight of the doorway, she nearly fell to her knees.  _ Oh my God…  _

She shook herself trying to clear the barrage of bad thoughts that kept popping into her head like an AI’s system malfunction warning and checked her phone. 05h17 p.m.. She’d lost nearly thirty solid minutes of gameplay because of that  _ nonsense _ . 

While it may have been to her, it wasn't nonsense, of course: having good extracurriculars was just as important as getting into a SKY university but, now that she was throwing all of  _ that _ into the gutter, she might as well try to dedicate as much of her time as she possibly could to pursuing what her mother, if she even heard about it, would probably call “her dumb little pipe dream.”

Oh god! And her mom? If she found out that Hana  _ willingly _ left the Model UN club just after being offered a position as Director, she would have a grade-A  _ fit.  _ She was the one to push Hana into getting into the club in the first place, afterall. 

If Eunji knew, which it seemed like she did, and she told her own parents about it, the PTA gossip mill would run amok and, once Hana’s mom caught track of what she’d done, she could kiss any freedom she might have had goodbye.

And that day, with those thoughts rushing through her brain, she walked to Sol’s apartment very differently, less like she was cluelessly searching for something and more like she was a  _ very _ bad spy trying to act natural in an undercover mission. There was a sense of paranoia pervading every jerk of her head, every frantic movement of her eye. 

Something inside her felt like that little bubble she found herself in, the one that had only just started to take shape because of Dae-hyun and Yuna’s help, was going to pop at any moment.

* * *

 

When Hana slid herself through the the gap between the nearly closing glass doors of Sol’s building, the concierge took notice of her with a nod. She rushed over to the elevator and pressed the button multiple times with contained agigation, until she heard a voice behind her and froze in her tracks. 

“You Dr. Kim’s niece?” 

She turned around to see the concierge looking at her with an interrogative expression, subtly aggressive in the way he leaned into the question. “You mean Sol?” She asked.

He nodded with a satisfied grin on his face then let out a wide smile, tapping his nose with his index finger. “He told me to stay on the lookout for a teenage girl breaking into his apartment,” he said jokingly, which didn’t stop Hana from freezing up. The elevator dinged just as he said, “eh, I won’t keep you.” He winked at her and waved goodbye saying, “medicine runs in the family, huh?”

If her heart had been beating fast after she deserted the Model UN Club, it was  _ nothing _ compared to how she felt when the elevator doors closed. Her knees felt like jelly and she had to brace herself against the gold plated metallic railing so she didn’t completely collapse.

On the ride up, she wondered what the hell he’d meant by that, but didn’t ponder on it for too long, since she was still trying to focus on breathing normally.

When the elevator doors’ opened onto Sol’s floor, Hana caught a whiff of a strong aroma of Ginseng tea filling the hallway in front of her. As she walked towards his apartment door, the smell only got stronger, and she heard a characteristic whirring of a range hood trying to filter out smoke and other assorted air particles from someone’s cooking, a sound she recognized all too well because of how her mother would always complain about the “grating, house-echoing noise” it made in their own home.

As she put the orange key through the lock and got in, she was greeted by the view of well-dressed man with slick black hair leaning over the kitchen island (standing, not sitting), a half-eaten plate of, well,  _ something _ in from of him. 

Only then did she make the connection that Sol might’ve been home. 

Hana had only met him a couple of times, really, but he was barely recognizable now, much different from the moody, acne-ridden “young adult” that she’d briefly interacted with as a kid when she slept over at Dae-hyun’s. 

Sol looked up and smiled when he heard the door open and, while Hana was fumbling with the decision of whether she should stay or go, he greeted her with a loud “oh, please, please come in!” after wiping his mouth with a napkin. While she nodded sheepishly started to make her way towards the kitchen bar, Sol turned around to turn off the range hood.

“It’s good for clearing out the smell,” he said, matter-of-factly, “but I’d die if I didn’t admit it makes an obnoxious amount of noise.” 

Hana smiled. “My mom would say the same thing.”

He laughed as he turned back to her, motioning towards one of the stools in front of her while he grabbed his dirty plate. “Please, take a seat.” 

Hana didn’t have much to say, so she just sat down, putting her bag on the floor next to her, and watched as he washed some dishes. He spoke over the running water, not paying much mind to the fact that Hana was dead silent. “I thought you’d stop by earlier,” he said, picking up one of the cups and wiping it off with a rag as he turned back to face her, “but Dae-hyun told me you got caught up in some... school business, was it?” he asked with a raise of his eyebrow.

Hana nodded. “Yeah, I had to... resign from my model UN club,” she stated bluntly.

Sol nodded slowly. “I was never really a fan of those kinds of clubs,” he said as he walked over to the corner of the kitchen. He leaned over one of the counters, not letting Hana see what he was doing, while he said, “too much politics, too much competition, too much raw passion. A bunch of snakes, the lot of them.” 

Hana scoffed. “Yeah, tell me about it.”

He walked back over to her with a tray. It held a very fancy porcelain tea set, from which two cups of Ginseng tea emanated their powerful aroma. He handed a cup to Hana and looked her over as she took a sip. It actually tasted very nice.

“I’d offer you some of my food as well,” he said, before leaning with both elbows over the bar opposite of her and taking a sip out of his own cup. “But Dae-hyun’s said too many times that the only thing I’m good at is making tea.” He laughed and Hana joined in, albeit sheepishly.

“So, what exactly are you doing, really?” He asked, catching her off guard. “Dae-hyun tried to get me into Overwatch, but I didn’t really have the time to get all that multiplayer stuff,” he explained before she could say anything.

She shifted her weight on the stool, clearing her throat. “Well,” she started, unsure of how to continue, “I’m basically thinking of like, you know, professional sports?”

He nodded, seemingly genuinely interested in what she was saying. “Yeah, of course. Practically worship Serena Williams,” he smirked, and Hana let out a small laugh.

“It’s basically that, but with competitive games?” She said. “And to go pro at that you need—”

“A lot of training, sweat and effort.”

Hana nodded, getting a bit more excited. “Yeah, exactly.”

“I can dig that, I can.” He paused briefly. “Is this more of a solo thing?”

“Oh, not really… I mean, it could be… I’m—I’ve actually met this girl in there and she’s nearly as hyped as I am to train together,” Hana stumbled through the words as she spoke, and Sol couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow.

“Ah, I’m sure the two of you are going to be amazing... From what Dae-hyun told me, there aren’t many girl players up there in the ranks, are there?”

She shook her head. “And that’s why we’re going to change that.”

Sol smiled. “I bet. You definitely seem to have the determination for it.” He straightened himself after a few seconds and cleared his throat. “But anyways, I have to go to work in a few minutes. I wish we’d have some more time to chit-chat, though. I’d love to know more about how all that works.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Can I ask you something before you do?” 

He smiled wide, a smile that reminded Hana all too much of Dae-hyun, and nodded. “As long as you don’t mind me getting ready while you do.”

She nodded as he walked over to his room, barely out of earshot, and then shouted to him, “why did you agree to this?”

He was silent for a few minutes and she started to think she had maybe asked a sensitive question, but she heard the door to his room open and Sol walked back carrying a duffle bag (presumably filled with his doctor scrubs). He put the bag on the couch and sat on one of the armrests, looking at her.

“You know, your parents really helped us out after our mom died.”

“They…  _ did _ ?” She was genuinely surprised.

He smiled. “Well, your dad, mostly.” Hana raised an eyebrow. He cleared his throat again. “You still talk to him much?”

She bit her lip. “Mom doesn’t really—”

He put a hand in front of him, cutting her off, and grimaced. “I know how it is…”

“Yeah…”

“But, anyways…” He rubbed the back of his neck, just like Dae-hyun did. “Dae-hyun doesn’t know. And neither did I, until fairly recently.”

Hana nodded, trying to get what point he was trying to make.

“Anyways, your dad told mine that there wasn’t a need to repay him, he was just being a good soul.”

Hana smiled.  _ Yeah, _ she thought, _ that sounds like him. _

“And, I thought it would be karmically wrong if I didn’t, you know, pass it forward,” he said, punctuating the sentence with a weak smile.

Hana’s eyes welled up but she contained them before speaking. “That’s actually… very sweet.”

Sol shrugged, picking up his duffel bag. “Eh, it’s just the kind of person anyone should be, you know?”

Hana grimaced, thinking of her mother. “Yeah,” she said, a bit bittersweet.

He walked towards her and leaned in a little, not close enough that he was invading her personal space, but close enough to indicate what he was saying was meant to stay between them. “Besides,” he said, “I know what it’s like to have parents’ who don’t really approve of everything you do.”

Hana laughed then, a full blown, nearly clutching her stomach kind of laugh. “You’re literally a surgeon!”

He laughed with her, heading towards the door. “Which just goes to show how much you can be the very best at something and that’s still not enough for some people.”

Hana grimaced again at the thought, but, as Sol waved her goodbye, walking out of the apartment with a light-hearted and  _ genuinely  _ uttered “Have fun storming the castle!”, she couldn’t help but smile.

* * *

 

Once Hana got settled again, s he spent nearly two hours tabbing in and out of Overwatch to send Yuna messages on Discord. The monitor’s display read 19h50 when she finally gave up, that little grey ball showing no indication of changing. She had a grueling training session, only half-concentrated, her mind filled with her sudden departure from the Model UN, Yuna’s absence and the brief conversation she had with Sol.

She spent a restless night rolling over in her bed, leg shaking involuntarily no matter how much she consciously ordered it to stop, thoughts rushing between whether Eunji had told her parents’ about the Model UN or if Yuna was going to bail on her again the next day. The only thought that brought her even a small semblance of inner peace was thinking of Sol and what he had (both direct and indirectly) told her about himself.

Come Wednesday morning, the day started off with fifty times more anxiety than it usually did, as Hana jolted awake in bed, fumbling through every minor action all the way ‘till she got to school. She sighed in relief when she saw her mother had left early for work. In the car, Dae-hyun even asked her if she’d seen a was feeling okay and, for most of that time, Hana barely remembered to check for a sign of Yuna’s existence at all. 

That is, until her phone started to vibrate in bursts in her pocket during first period. 

She cautiously darted her eyes between her lap and Mr. Nguyen, a vietnamese tenured professor at her school, and, while maintaining eye contact with him, slightly widening them in that way one does to indicate they’re actively paying attention, or at least pretending to, subtly took out her phone. 

**[08h22] d.znuts:** i forogt

**[08h22] d.znuts:** so many things

**[08h22] d.znuts:** one of which included my dog

**[08h22] d.znuts:** and then my phone

**[08h22] d.znuts:** where my dog was staying

Hana propped up a book in front of her, carefully placing the phone inside it so she could take type without looking too suspicious. 

**[08h22] d.znuts:** behold

**[08h22] d.znuts:** the reason of my disappearance

The next text was a picture. It was a selfie of a dark-haired girl, Yuna, she presumed, with an asymmetric cut that could’ve easily been confused with a sidecut, sitting cross-legged on an absurdly edgy Alpha Gamer black and red Vega chair. She was wearing a grey hoodie and awkwardly trying to hold up a medium-sized black lump in her free arm. 

It was a dog.  Well, it looked more like a chihuahua-shaped black hole in the fabric of reality than a dog, because it was the blackest dog she’d ever seen, but a dog nonetheless. Hana had to stop herself from giggling.

**[08h22] Song:** what? did he fall into a pothole??

**[08h23] d.znuts:** akdjaslda no he was being dog sat

**[08h23] Song:** did the dog sitter lose him at night because u coated him in vantablack 

**[08h23] d.znuts:** i’ve got no reply to that

Hana had to contain a smile.

**[08h25] Song:** the famous yuna? at a loss for words?

**[08h25] d.znuts:** listen……….

**[08h25] Song:** am all ears

**[08h25] d.znuts:** arent u supposed to be in class right now

**[08h26] Song:** your point?

**[08h26] d.znuts:** so u /are/ in class

**[08h26] Song:** yeah

**[08h27] Song:** dont change the subject

**[08h27] d.znuts:** my, what a rebel

**[08h27] Song:** god you dont even know half of it

**[08h27] d.znuts:** oh worm?

“Miss Song? Miss Song!”

Hana looked up from her book, wide eyed, as Mr. Nguyen called her name. 

“Might I ask what is so interesting about that biology book that you are completely disregarding our physics class?”

She just stared at him, quickly dropping the book face down on her desk. As he started to walk up to her desk, she took her phone from underneath the pages in a sly demonstration of sleight of hand and put it beneath her leg just as he got to her.

He picked up the book and raised an eyebrow, clearly expecting to find a phone. He sighed. “Please limit your studies of other subjects to their  _ respective _ classes, miss Song.”

Hana nodded due diligently as the entire class stared at their exchange, half snickering, half genuinely impressed she was that quick to hide her phone. After  Mr. Nguyen turned back to the board, she scooped it back from underneath her leg and sent a quick text to Yuna.

**[08h30] Song:** almost got caught texting in class

**[08h30] Song:** will talk so—

Mr. Nguyen cleared his throat. She looked up, smiling sheepishly, and saw him leaning over her desk, hand propped in front of him. She lowered her head in defeat and gave him her phone as part of the class whispered amongst each other.

“You can pick  _ this  _ back up with the administration at the end of the day,” he said, walking back to the board.

Hana’s leg bounced in a very annoying fashion for the rest of the day and, as much as she tried, she couldn’t really focus on the lectures she was being given. Once the final bell rang, she grabbed her bag and ran out the door faster than any of the other students, desperate to get her phone back. 

Once she got to the administration, though, she was met with a bit of resistance.

“You don’t get in trouble often, do you, sweetheart?” Asked the secretary in front of her. “School day only ends at 9 p.m., honey,” she continued, not really that into the conversation.

Hana sighed profusely. “What? Really?”

“Yep.”

“Fine. Fine. That’s fine,” she said, already backing away from the counter.

Once she got out into the hallway, she  _ bolted _ towards the school exit, not even bothering to try to look for Dae-hyun, or paying any mind to the looks she got from the rest of the students. 

She ran almost all the way to Sol’s apartment, stopping only at the 7-Eleven to get herself a snack and some refreshments. She threw everything on the couch, not even bothering to put the sodas in the fridge, and  _ immediately _ rushed towards his office.

Once she booted up the computer, she saw Sol made her a new user profile, and smiled as she clicked it. She logged into Discord and, after going into he DMs with Dae-hyun, pondered a bit before clicking on the “Add Friends to DM” button and typing in  _ d.znuts _ into the textbox that popped up. She frowned when she saw Yuna was offline.

_ Welcome to the beginning of the  _ **_Dae-hyun, d.znuts_ ** _ group. _

**[16h18] Song:** guys 

**[16h18] Song:** my phone is being held hostage at the school

**[16h18] Song:** dae-hyun, sorry i couldn't find u

**[16h18] Song:** yuna, this is dae-hyun, dae-hyun, yuna

_**Dae-hyun** changed the channel name: **hana what the fuck** _

**[16h19] Dae-hyun:** wheres this fabled yuna ive heard so much about

**[16h20] Song:** :/ idk, we were SUPPOSED to play tho

But they didn’t. 

Hana ended up playing matches the same way she had the day before, only half-focused and getting surprised by everything. No matter how hard she tried, her mind would eventually slip back to wondering what Yuna was up to. Whenever she was queueing for a match, she tabbed back into Discord to look at the last few messages they exchanged about Yuna’s dumb dog and wondered if he was the reason she was offline.  _ Probably fell into another pothole,  _ she thought to herself. 

While she stared, she hovered her hands over the keyboard, thinking of something to type, but always gave up before she did. A couple hours passed that way until, after a match where she managed a quad kill with Winston on Watchpoint: Gibraltar, she finally caved.

**[07h14] Song:** yuna get the  _ fuck  _ in here i need you to appreciate my wicked potg 

**[07h14] Song:** where the fuuuuck are you

And again, zero reply.

It wasn’t until _Thursday_ morning, after Hana woke up to turn off her alarm, that she saw five notifications in the _hana what the fuck_ channel. When Hana opened the app to check, she saw a green dot by Yuna’s icon, the white text underneath her handle saying she was playing something called Tibia.

**[01h12] d.znuts:** hey sorry guys was sleepin

**[01h12] d.znuts:** my sleep schedules a bit

**[01h12] d.znuts:** fucked lmao

**[01h12] d.znuts:** ill be on today n tomorrow tho

Hana shook her head, climbing down from her bed and throwing her phone on the chair.  _ If I can wait that long, she can wait a few minutes _ . She got ready for class before she replied.

**[06h19] Song:** u sure it wasnt ur dog again

**[06h19] d.znuts:** ahsdksaj yeah

She switched over to their DMs while walking out of her room.

**[06h20] Song:** you never did tell me what the hell happened with him

**[06h20] d.znuts:** wuh u mean

[ **06h20] Song:** why u were awol for so long!!!

She texted while walking down the stairs, pausing when she nearly missed a step and fell down half of them.

**[06h20] Song:** surely picking up a dog doesn’t take an entire afternoon, yuna

**[06h20] d.znuts:** i can explain in a second!!

**[06h20] d.znuts:** in the middle of a quest tho hold on

**[06h20] Song:** you best not disappear today again

Hana sighed and headed out the door, thinking Yuna would leave her on read, but she got a reply a few minutes after, just as Dae-hyun was just pulling up the street.

**[06h26] d.znuts:** dont worry i wont

* * *

 

“You were awfully quiet in the ride back yesterday,” Dae-hyun said, a few minutes after they left Hana’s house.

Hana crossed her arms. “Yeah, I was a bit, annoyed.”

“At Eunji still?” 

“Life in general, I guess,” she shrugged.

“Did you guys lose a lot yesterday?” He asked, glancing over at her. 

Hana sighed, trying to think of a reply, and she noticed that  _ he  _ noticed it.

Before she could say anything else, he nodded. “Ah, she didn’t show up again, huh.” He chuckled. After she didn’t reply, he teased her. “You got it  _ baaad. _ ” 

“Shut up! I’ve known her for like a  _ day _ , Dae-hyun!” 

“Maybe so, but you’ve got her in your  _ sights, _ ” he said, eyebrows raised.

“Stop right there, pal.” 

“Aw,” he continued, “not a chance you'd let her peek under the hood of your mech?”

Hana visibly glared at him. “Unlock the doors, I’m jumping out.” 

They laughed after a beat and then (much to Hana’s relief) spent the rest of the ride and most of their time before class talking about one of Dae-hyun’s robotics project. Five minutes before the bell rang, they each waved goodbye and headed to their own classes.

The first two periods passed by without a breeze, two classes Hana actually enjoyed but didn’t have to put much effort in: chemistry and english. The third period, physics again with Mr.  Nguyen, proved to be, not as productive. Her phone vibrated in her pocket halfway through the class, and she couldn’t help but check the nine notifications.

**[10h43] d.znuts:** so the thing was

**[10h43] d.znuts:** i had to pick up my dog, but i forgot what time i was supposed to get there

**[10h44] d.znuts:** when i finally did, i was in such a hurry to leave for work that i forgot my phone there with the dude

**[10h44] d.znuts:** and by the time i figured  _ that _ out i was already halfway to work and couldnt go back

**[10h44] d.znuts:** to get my phone, that is

**[10h44] d.znuts:** so i had to stay my full ass shift phoneless

**[10h44] d.znuts:** and after i was  _ finally _ done i had to rush over to the dudes place

**[10h44] d.znuts:** and stayed in front of his door for like, an hour before he woke up

**[10h45] d.znuts:** and  _ that _ is when i got my phone back

“Two days in a row, miss Song?” 

Her head shot back up to see Mr. Nguyen staring her down, eyebrows raised and one palm laid out in front of him.  _ Ah, damn _ . She sighed, apologized profusely, and then handed him her phone.

“If this happens again, I’m afraid I’ll have to give your parents a call.”

She spent the rest of the school day impatiently tapping her leg, trying to focus on the classes to take her mind off what Mr. Nguyen had told her. It hadn’t even been a week and she was already being so  _ careless _ . At that rate, she’d be in house arrest by no later than Sunday. 

When she walked out of class, in a relative hurry to get over to Sol’s to message Yuna and Dae-hyun again, she saw him leaning on the wall just outside her classroom door. She raised an eyebrow.

“Got your phone took again?” He asked, casually waving her pink-covered Moto E5 in his hand. 

“How did you—”

“Mr. Nguyen gave me a heads up,” he shrugged, and then threw the phone at her. “You know it pays off actually being  _ friends _ with our teachers.” 

She lightly punched him in the shoulder. “With friends like you, why would I need any more?” 

Someone tapped her on the shoulder then. “Excuse me, Hana, but I think some of your classmates would like to pass through the door eventually,” she cringed when she recognized the voice.

Eunji forced out a very fake smile when Hana turned around to look and Dae-hyun coughed awkwardly. “My apologies, Eunji,” Hana said through gritted teeth.

“Oh, it’s not a problem,” she said, walking into the hallway and giving the two curt nod. Just as Hana thought she would leave, Eunji turned around and said, “I hope you two have fun in your  _ study  _ group today.” 

Dae-hyun had to hold Hana back by one of her shoulders to stop her from pouncing onto Eunji right that instant.

Hana’s mood was rightfully soured while they walked over to the 7-eleven to have their usual afternoon snack.

Dae-hyun was quick to pick up his customary Binggrae banana milk and 5 cheop Banchan platter with kimchi, namul, tang, jjigae and ganjang (neatly packed in a circular red container) and sit down by one of the bars that faced the glass pane, while Hana went over to the ramen machine to heat up a cup of Fire Chicken Fried Noodles and a Nano Cola underneath her arm.

After she poured water into the cup and put it inside the built in microwave the ramen machine had (trying very hard not to slam the microwave door), she turned around to look over at Dae-hyun, who was staring intently at his phone. Wondering of her own notifications, she patted her pockets looking for hers, but remembered she’d stuck it in the outer pocket of her messenger bag pocket and took it out. 

_**Dae-hyun** changed the channel name: **pictures of hana song being oblivious** _

The next messages were three different pictures of Hana between the time she and Dae-hyun met in school and walked over to the 7-eleven: one of her getting up from her desk, probably just as she was coming out of class, relieved that it was over; another one of her passing by the Pork Rice Soup Restaurant just outside of the school, arms crossed and frowning; and a third one of her blurrily running through the 7-eleven doors, any emotion other than “rush” being undetectable by the picture alone. 

**[16h12] Dae-hyun:** This is: a day in the life of a future pro gamer

Hana looked up at him in in mock outrage and saw him holding his phone up to take yet another picture. She raised up a middle finger just as the microwave beeped behind her. She put away her phone before getting her ramen cup out of it and, after straining the water out and mixing in the sauce, walked over to the bar, lightly slapping Dae-hyun on the back of his head when she got there.

“ _ Ow _ !” He shouted, rubbing the back of his head.

“What are you doing??” She asked as she pulled up a stool.

“What I do best,” he said, “lifting up your spirits.” Hana smiled, and he winked before saying, “and, of course, selling you to Yuna.” 

Hana scoffed. “I don’t need to be  _ sold _ , Dae-hyun.” 

He shrugged. “See for yourself.”

**[16h12] d.znuts:** holy shit

**[16h12] d.znuts:** are u guys at a 7-eleven

“I don’t think that’s making a good job of  _ selling  _ me, Dae-hyun.”

He just smiled and turned back to his phone.

**[16h13] Dae-hyun:** Hana how the hell have u found the one person whose discord handle ends in #6969

She took her own phone out of her pocket then.

**[16h13] Song:** youre literally sitting right next to me

**[16h13] Song:** theres no need for this

She glanced at him and he smiled wide while the chat displayed a  _ Dae-hyun is typing… _

**[16h13] Dae-hyun:** How else would yuna hear it though???

**[16h13] Song:** she didnt have to

“I was literally talking about  _ her!”  _ Dae-hyun exclaimed out loud.

“Doesn’t mean she needs to  _ know  _ about it,” Hana quipped.

Dae-hyun laughed at her and, for a brief moment, looked like he was going to say something, but quickly changed his mind and focused on eating his rice. They ate a bit in silence before both their phones’ vibrated on the bar.

**[16h16] d.znuts:** its actually rigged

**[16h16] Dae-hyun:** ?

**[16h16] d.znuts:** i changed it with discord nitro

Hana laughed out loud after she thought of her reply and saw Dae-hyun raise an eyebrow.

**[16h16] Song:** so what youre telling us is you payed to be this dumb

He laughed with her. “You two are great together,” he teased.

“Shut up,” she said, turning back to her phone.

**[16h16] d.znuts:** thats eel relephant

**[16h16] d.znuts:** the real question is 

**[16h16] d.znuts:** are u guys going to play or what??

**[16h17] Song:** in a few

Dae-hyun raised an eyebrow at Hana before turning to type on his phone. While he did, he said, “So, I’m guessing that means you’re going to chow down that ramen ten times faster than usual now, is it?”

**[16h12] Dae-hyun:** maybe a bit later, i gotta finish some homework first

Hana put down her phone and then gently grazed her hand over one his cheeks with her hand. “Oh,  _ Dae-hyun _ ,” she said, a look of exaggerated sympathy plastered all over her face. “Are you afraid that my playing with Yuna will take away all of the  _ quality time _ we spend together?”

Dae-hyun slapped her hand away from him. “Oh, I’m not worried about our  _ quality time _ ,” he said, in a mocking tone.

“Is that so?”

“I’m much more worried about the wicked indigestion you’re going to get after you swallow an entire ramen cup whole because you’re so desperate to talk to your little online friend.” 

She scoffed. “Oh  _ please _ … like I’d rush my meals for anyone—man  _ or _ woman.” 

Dae-hyun laughed and that punctuated the end of their little tête-à-tête for that time. 

They talked more about school work then and, after they payed (and Hana got a few more snacks to eat afterwards), waved goodbye as Dae-hyun headed back towards school and Hana, towards Sol’s. She got there more or less like she’d done the past few days, greeting the concierge, throwing her food on the couch and putting the sodas in the fridge, and booting up Sol’s computer.

She opened up Overwatch with one hand while the other opened up a Nano Cola. She quickly put her mouth over the hole, hoping the fizzles of the soda didn’t fall much onto the desk. After the screen finally loaded, she was about to click on Yuna’s handle, but Yuna was somehow faster and the notification flashed at the top of her screen.

**_[d.znuts]_ ** _ invited you to a group! _

_ You have joined a group! _

_ Joined group voice chat - open mic. 2/2 players _

_ Press P to access channels. _

“He’s more of a lore than actual gameplay kind of guy, Dae-hyun,” Hana said immediately, concentrating very hard not to stumble on her words.

Yuna scoffed. “Poser.”

“I know, right?” Hana raised an eyebrow when they didn’t instantly queue up for a match. “What’s up?”

“You sound a bit more agitated,” Yuna stated, so matter-of-factly that it sounded like she had known Hana for nearly as long as Dae-hyun had. “I was gonna suggest we go for comp today, but—”

Hana cut her off. “No, no, really, I’m fine. Just a bit peeved.”

“Oh, cool, cool, cool. That… might not be the best sentiment for comp, though.”

“You’ve been gone for like  _ forever _ and when you come back your first instinct is to suggest slacking off?”

Hana smirked to herself when Yuna queued up for comp. “Fine,” she said, “but don’t get pissy when we end up with some sexist morons.”

“Which would only make getting gold medals in everything that much more of a pleasure.”

She heard Yuna sigh and chuckle. “If you say so.”

They were silent for a moment, before Yuna spoke up.

“Why are you so peeved today?”

“‘Cos you wouldn’t answer my texts.”

“Cranky ‘cos you missed me?” Hana shook her head, picturing Yuna’s smirk. How the hell did she  _ do _ that with her voice?

“No, idiot. This, this…” Hana struggled to find the right approach to describing Eunji. She settled for brash. “This  _ bitch  _ from my class tried to screw me over, I’m still salty about it. I would’ve told you about it but you were conveniently  _ absent _ yesterday.”

Yuna ignored Hana’s last comment and earnestly asked, “what did she do?”

And Hana retold, in great detail, how Eunji had it out for her and how she felt that Eunji somehow knew she was slacking off her studies to play Overwatch. She finished the story with a “it’s just, annoying, you know?”

“Wow, what the fuck?” Yuna said, genuinely surprised. “Like, that’s just mean, too.”

“Right?? Admonishable,” Hana scoffed.

“Absolutely incorrigible,” Yuna replied, and she could almost  _ hear _ the grin on her face.

Hana couldn’t contain her smile. “Disgustingly reprehensible.”

The two of them laughed and spent a few moments in comfortable ambient silence, the rhythmic ticks of the Overwatch clicking while the algorithm searched for a match. Almost a minute passed before Yuna sucked air through gritted teeth and said, “I haven’t even been out of school that long but I don’t miss it for a  _ second _ .”

“You graduated already?” 

“Sort of. Early release, one might say.”

Hana snickered. “And no college would take you?”

“I’m too much of a rebel.” Hana shook her head, picturing Yuna’s smirk. How the hell did she  _ do _ that with her voice? Or, better, how the hell was she picturing her  _ smirk? _ Before she could think on it too much, Yuna’s tone switched. “But yeah, I don’t… don’t really know what I’m gonna do with my life.”

Hana laughed. “Oh, that’s a mood,” she said, “I was thinking maybe we cou—” but she was cut off when the comp match line up popped up with a characteristic  _ ding! _ She raised an eyebrow, trying to quickly scan through the names on the screen. The other four players were in a quartet. “Oh, nice.”

Yuna whisper shouted an excited “ _ Yes! _ ” and Hana heard the clacking of her keyboard as she typed some reply to the guy in the team chat.

**[Xaphania]:** d.znuts, really?

“This. This is  _ it _ ,” Yuna said, as the character selection screen popped up and the counter started to tick down. “This is what I’m going to do with my life,” she said with a tone of confident finality, instalocking Mei.

Hana tried very hard to contain the smile that kept creeping up the edges of her lips. 

They played competitive for the rest of that day, grinding through matches and only taking a couple of breaks to eat (and chat). During the character selection screen in a casual Mystery Heroes match before they wrapped things up for that session, Hana noticed one of the enemy team players was named after a Harry Potter character.

“Hah, we’re playing against a Malfoy,” she said after getting thrown into the Route 66 attack spawn room as a Bastion. “Shit, I got Bastion.”

“Does that make us Gryffindor then?” she heard Yuna say, in a very, very bad english accent. She popped into the spawn only a few seconds later and, somehow, the game had assigned her Mei. “Ah, yes boy!!” She shouted.

“Did you, like, hack into the game to make that happen?”

“Blizzard knows what I’m about and is eager to please,” she said, while motioning with Mei’s head up and down dramatically.

Hana scoffed. The two of them were looking at each other in game, Hana pointing her reticle directly over Mei’s head. While they waited for the match to start, she spoke up. “I’m surprised an old movie buff like you has seen Harry Potter.” 

Yuna shook Mei’s head in-game, earning a laugh from Hana. “I don’t live under a rock like _ some _ people.”

“If I did live under a _rock_ , I probably would’ve heard of your old ass movies, because they’re as good as fossils.”

“That’s quite the reach for a quick quip.” 

“My point got across.”

“Very lengthily.” 

The countdown clock reached zero and Hana shook her head. “Shut up.”

They managed to clear through the first checkpoint in Route 66 relatively fast. The enemy team didn’t seem to have a good grasp of the heroes they were getting assigned as. Halfway through the match, after she had gotten annihilated by the enemy team’s current Doomfist, Hana brought back the topic. 

“My patronus would probably be a bunny,” she stated, matter-of-factly.

She heard Yuna scoff. “Well, isn't that  _ dainty _ .”

“Yours, on the other hand, would probably have  _ horns _ ,” she quipped.

“I am  _ offended, _ ” Yuna paused for a brief second, “that you’d think I’ve given the concept of a  _ patronus  _ my time of day.”

Hana shook her head just as she respawned. “We’re probably losing because you haven’t,” she said, walking out of the second spawn room.

“Those two things are completely unrelated.”

“Are they, though?” 

“ _ Please _ ,” she started and then suddenly shut up, and Hana figured she was focusing on the match as well, “enlighten me as to  _ how _ my thinking up a patronus would have any effect on my ability in the game.” She screamed a “damnit!” then, and Hana looked over to the upper right corner of her screen to see that Yuna had gotten killed by an enemy Torb.

She laughed. “That wouldn’t happen if you weren’t putting so much effort into pretending you haven’t thought about it.”

If they had been talking face to face, Hana imagined Yuna would’ve been rolling her eyes right then. She sighed in defeat before saying, “fine, fine. I guess mine would be, I don’t know, a bear?”

Hana raised an eyebrow. “A  _ bear? _ ” She started laughing so hard she didn’t see the enemy Sombra coming up from behind her and was dead before she could react. “Ah, shit.”

Again, that same smirkish tone in Yuna’s voice. “Seems someone put too much  _ effort  _ into laughing.”

“Shut  _ up _ .”

* * *

Hana ended their session that day a bit earlier, telling Dae-hyun via Discord that she’d meet him at the school gates after instead of having him come over. She walked back to school and  _ finally _ got her phone back. As she was walking towards her meet up point, she saw the Discord group she’d made with him and Yuna (still named  **pictures of hana song being oblivious** ) had some notifications.

**[08h42] Dae-hyun:** Hey yuna, did hana leave already?

**[08h42] d.znuts:** ?? you know im not physically there with her, right??

**[08h42] Dae-hyun:** Girl, are you two still playing??? I need to talk to her

**[08h43] d.znuts:** she’s not online, if that’s what you’re asking

**[08h43] Dae-hyun:** You really are exactly like Hana said

**[08h52] d.znuts:** what’s that supposed to mean???

Hana laughed at their interaction as she walked down the stairs, seeing Dae-hyun waiting for her at the gates. He greeted her with a shy, almost apologetic wave, and she raised an eyebrow. 

“What? What’s up?” She asked.

He rubbed the back of his neck. “I… I think I’m gonna sleep over at Sol’s today. Dad wants me to cut back on the gas.”

Hana blinked. “Hey, Dae-hyun…”

“Yeah?” He said, his face scrunched up like he had just witnessed a wicked car crash.

“Might I know  _ why  _ you didn’t mention this to me earlier.”

He laughed nervously. “Dad just asked me to! I didn’t know ‘till before you left!”

Hana sighed. “That’s fine, I’ll send mom a text.”

“I’ll wait with you ‘till she gets here,” he said with a smile.

“You know that’s probably gonna take a while.”

“My house is like five minutes away,” he quipped.

She chuckled. “Your choice.” 

Hana took out her phone and flipped through her contacts to get her mom’s number. It rang for almost a minute before Hana gave up and sent her a text through WhatsApp.

**[08h53] Hana Song:** hey mom, could u pick me up at school today?

Her mom came online then, and the app showed she was typing a reply.

**[08h54] Mama Song:** No can do, darling, I’m already home. Wouldn’t be savvy to waste gas on that.

Dae-hyun sucked air through gritted teeth behind her, hovering over her shoulder to see the text. “God, our parents really are the same.” 

Hana sighed. “Tell me about it.” 

For the briefest of moments, Hana considered sleeping over at Sol’s with Dae-hyun, but she knew that would only raise questions with her mother, and she didn’t have enough energy to lie to her about it. And so, she had to walk all the way over to Busan Station (it was just over the distance between the school and Sol’s place, but Hana felt like she’d walked  _ enough _ for a day). 

The gigantic glass building that was the Busan Train Station never ceased to amaze her, probably because she and Dae-hyun were spoiled and didn’t really use the trains as often as regular kids their age should. She walked inside, passing by a few stores before reached the escalator towards the main floor that she could see below. 

A few notes of classical music played throughout the station before a female voice gave off some announcements. Hana purchased her ticket through one of the machines, quickly slipping a few won notes into the slot and taking out a small yellow ticket from the ticket hole. She felt her phone vibrate in her pocket then, but ignored it over the pressing matter of getting onto Metro Line 1.

She passed through the turnstiles and headed down the stairs, arriving just as the train was getting to the station. Once she got settled into a seat, she took out her phone, only to see three notifications from the  **pictures of hana song being oblivious** group chat.

The first was an image that Dae-hyun sent at 21h15. It showed one of the sides of his (well, his dad’s) silver Dodge Challenger. The part over the tire had a bunch of white streaks over it, while the doors had parts of their paint faded to a lighter silver and small a very large linear indentation that sprawled from the back tires to halfway through the front door, and looked like a child with superhuman strength had furiously run a crayon deep into the metal.

**[21h15] d.znuts:** D:

**[21h15] Dae-hyun:** just scratched off the entire right side of my dads car, lads

**[21h16] d.znuts:** how did it happen

Hana couldn’t think of anything else to reply, so she went with an expletive.

**[21h22] Song:** yikes

She was overcome by exhaustion then and, after locking her phone and putting it in her pocket, she rested an elbow on the armrest beside her and nodded off. She drifted in an out of consciousness, thinking back to the last time she had actually used the trains to get to and from school, and how she didn’t really remember exactly at what stop she was supposed to get off at. 

Whenever that thought came to her she would jolt herself awake, but then she’d look over to the black and red scrolling screen over the train doors that read the names of the stations they were stopping at next, and would drift back in. It wasn’t until a good half an hour later, that she finally got off at Songjeong Station, and had to  _ walk _ again ‘till she got home.

While she did, she went through the texts she’d gotten during the time she napped in the train. 

**[21h28] Dae-hyun:** i dont know

**[21h28] Dae-hyun:** how to

**[21h28] Dae-hyun:** get into garages

**[21h30] d.znuts:** yikes

**[21h42] Song:** sucks to suck

She was somehow too tired to actually be empathetic then, and thought she might regret that later, but pressed on.

**[21h42] d.znuts:** wait

**[21h42] d.znuts:** do u have a license?

**[21h42] Dae-hyun:** yeah??

**[21h42] d.znuts:** Are you sure about that

**[21h42] d.znuts:** did u have to like, take a driving course prior to getting it

**[21h42] Dae-hyun:** yes

**[21h43] Dae-hyun:** driving course doesnt teach u how to park

**[21h43] Dae-hyun:** it teaches u to drive

**[21h43] d.znuts:** has he,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,seen it

**[21h43] d.znuts:** were u like, backing into the garage or diving straight into it

**[21h45] Dae-hyun:** no im at my bros

**[21h45] Dae-hyun:** im only going to divulge the news to him tomorrow lmao

**[21h45] Dae-hyun:** no, was driving directly into it because am a moron

**[21h45] d.znuts:** rip

**[21h45] Dae-hyun:** anyways i have like 20 robotics projects to make designs for in 3 days so like

**[21h45] d.znuts:** gl with telling her

**[21h45] Dae-hyun:** shhh

**[21h45] Dae-hyun:** and thanks kfjsdfsd

**[21h45] Dae-hyun:** ill need it

Hana smiled, only really observing the text exchange between Dae-hyun and Yuna and being rather thankful that Yuna was there to talk to Dae-hyun.

Once she finally came into view of her house, though, she sighed, and part of her paranoia came back. She walked through the door with cautious footsteps, every nerve in her body expecting her mother to come out of the kitchen screaming at her for throwing away her future, but that didn’t happen and, as she walked up the stairs, she heard her mom distantly shout a dry “welcome home, Hana,” that made her shiver to her core.

Her muscles didn’t relax until she got in her room and closed the door behind her, practically melting on the floor. She threw put her bag on her hanger and just haphazardly took off her uniform, feeling excruciatingly tired all of a sudden. After she’d switched into some pink pajamas, she heard her mother calling for her. She walked over to the top of the stairs and shouted back a “Yeah?” with leaning her hands on the railings.

Her mother was standing in the middle of the living room and, looking up to Hana, she asked “did you have dinner at school today?”

Hana froze up. “Uhh, no. Not really.”

“Well? Would you like some?” 

She shrugged, trying to get away from the conversation. “Uh, no thanks, I was actually about to head to bed… Long day,” she smiled weakly.

“Ah, that’s fine, that’s fine,” her mother replied. Hana started to turn back to go towards her room before she heard her mom say, “say, why did you need a ride today? Did something happen to Dae-hyun?”

“Oh, his dad’s car is had to get dropped off at the mechanics,” she said, without skipping a beat, “something about the muffler falling off, I don’t really know.”

“He took the train back with you then?” 

Hana nodded. “Yep.”

Hana considered her options then. There were a  _ lot _ of different ways that conversation could go in. The first scenario if she asked for a ride, she thought, was that her mom said yes, but then asked why Dae-hyun didn’t need one, which would inevitably lead to a shitstorm of “You  _ lied  _ to me!” The second scenario, where she said yes, but didn’t ask about Dae-hyun, was a bit more probably if she stopped to consider how little her mom like to inconvenience herself. Even though picking  _ him _ up wouldn’t really be  _ that _ much of a hassle, there were a few variables like, having to wait for him and the likes, that Hana knew her mother didn’t care for. 

And, when she did ask, going against every instinct in her body telling her not to, she forgot to take into account how  _ much _ her mother doesn’t like to be inconvenienced.

“Oh, Hana,” she started, “You know I’d have to go  _ way  _ out of my way to drop you off at school, darling.”  _ More like, three minutes, but that’s fine.  _ “Not to mention how I’d have to leave earlier because of it.” 

Hana sighed. Scenario three it was, a flat out no. 

“Can’t you get a ride with Dae-hyun and his dad?”

A flat out no  _ and _ an inquiry. Two for one. Hana was eager to just let the conversation end, so she just replied with a curt, “ _ Yeah _ , I’ll check with them,” and headed back into her room before her mom could reply.

* * *

 

Trusting that the the regular time she left the house with Dae-hyun would be enough to get to school in time, Hana made the very grave mistake of sleeping in, waking up with her alarm ringing for the third time at 6:15 a.m.. She had to rush to get dressed and walk over to the Songjeong Station (because, despite feeling like she’d be late, she  _ refused _ to run) and, by the time she got there, Dae-hyun seemed to be up and active in the Discord chat.

**[06h49] Dae-hyun:** so i dropped my dads car off at her house with the scratched side facing the street so whoever is coming out of the house cant see it directly

**[06h49] Dae-hyun:** then YEETED myself out the house while everyone was still sleeping and came straight to school

**[06h50] Dae-hyun:** and now that i am, safe, i sent my stepmom a text like "hey, tell dad i scratched the car a bit will ya? i dont.... wanna be in the path of his wrath but also tell him he can use all my project grant money to like, fix it, thanks so much"

She typed while she walked, careful not to misstep out from the sidewalk onto the street. 

**[06h52] Song:** first off, you were here??? why didnt you text me??

**[06h52] Song:** we couldve taken the train together smh

**[06h52] Dae-hyun:** i reached my data limit, lmao

**[06h54] Song:** unbelievable

**[06h54] Song:** second off, 

**[06h54] Song:** this is  _ exactly _ why i drive and dae-hyun just builds things

**[06h54] Dae-hyun:** hey now

**[06h54] Dae-hyun:** i  _ told  _ you i just dont know how to PARK

Hana smiled when she saw the little white text display a  _ d.znuts is typing... _

**[06h55] d.znuts:** sjdkhsdkjhaks amazing

**[06h55] Song:** i still cant believe Dae-hyun ABANDONED me to DIE in my HOME

**[06h55] d.znuts:** lmao

**[06h55] Dae-hyun:** calm down drama queen, ill make up to u tonight, what do u say

**[06h55] d.znuts:** oh??

**[06h55] Dae-hyun:** yeah, ill finally play a match with you two and i can finally meet the mysterious yuna

The rest of the day was spent with the three of them basically communicating through the group chat (that suffered many name changes during the period). The name was finally settled once they started talking about where they live. Both Hana and Dae-hyun made sure to only text in classes where they knew the professor would be too oblivious to catch them, which caused a bit of a delay messaging-wise.

**[08h23] d.znuts:** but hey guys, quick question

**[08h23] d.znuts:** why dont u take the metro every day instead of going by car??

**[08h23] d.znuts:** where… where do u guys live???? ave you no subways around???

**[08h28] Dae-hyun:** >.> we live in Busan babey

**[08h28] d.znuts:** no way

**[08h28] Dae-hyun:** yeah way

**[08h28] d.znuts:** what COUNTY???  _ i!!  _ live in busan

Hana’s heart literally skipped a beat when she saw the text.

**[08h30] Song:** shut up, u dont

**[08h30] Song:** no fucking way

**[08h30] Dae-hyun:** Omg really???

**[08h30] d.znuts:** haksjdhjks nah

**[08h30] d.znuts:** i live in Seoul kldjsdlksjdla

And then it went right back to beating like it usually did, and she tried to focus back in class, a bit disappointed.

**[08h32] Dae-hyun:** that’s just 3 hours away though, :pensive:

They kept at it for,  _ literally _ , the rest of the day: during the point when Dae-hyun and Hana left for their usual 7-eleven snack; whenever Hana and Yuna were playing regular quick play instead of comp, and even afterwards during the metro ride home.

Hana left earlier then, to make sure that she’d get home in time to play a few matches with both Dae-hyun (who was still staying at Sol’s) and Yuna. Once she got home, she went straight for the staircase, but was ambushed by her mother, sitting in the living room couch that was half-facing the door.

“Hana.” Her tone was dry, and it made Hana shiver internally. Hana was standing between the front door, not sure if she should close it with her on inside or take a few cautious steps backwards and making a run for it. “Why did you lie about Dae-hyun?” Her mother asked.

Hana swallowed dry. “What do you mean?”

“Close the door.” She stood up from the couch and Hana had to contain a flinch. “I talked to his dad yesterday, Hana. He slept over at his brother’s.”

Hana scoffed, trying to sound convincing. “Yeah… After he dropped me off, obviously.”

“And now why do I have a hard time believing that?”

Hana shrugged and her tongue slipped. “Because you don’t trust me, I’d guess.”

Her mother’s expression turned visibly sour, and Hana instantly regretted it. “Where were you, Hana?”

Hana frowned. “At school, where  _ else? _ ”

“And if I call them, and ask to look at their security footage, they’ll confirm that?”

This was a  _ warzone  _ and Hana could not afford to give out her tell, so she struggled against freezing up with every muscle in her body. “Oh, yeah, no, my bad. I did  _ lie _ . I was out by a hookah lounge getting drunk and doing drugs, how could I  _ forget? _ ”

She walked up to Hana after that, getting uncomfortably close and Hana internally regretted the decision a once again. “Then why… did you lie?” She asked, staring straight into her eyes, and Hana could hear from the strain in her voice that she was trying to hide an exploding anger behind a thinly-veiled mask of calmness.

Hana sighed, and had to blink a couple of times to keep tears from falling. “I didn’t…” She started, and had to pause so her voice wouldn’t crack, “I didn’t want you to think less of Dae-hyun for crashing his father’s car.”

Her eyes widened with the reveal. “He  _ what _ ?! Were you  _ in _ it?!?” 

“No, no,” she started, “he’d already left me; he was… backing into his brother’s garage.” Hana tried to calm her down. “It was just a scratch on the side.”

Her mom shook her head, tension leaving from her shoulders, but that same anger still contained behind her expression. “You’re not getting rides with him ever again,” she said, turning around to leave towards her own bedroom. Hana nodded, still standing in the same spot. “You’re taking the metro from now on, Hana!” She shouted from the hallway.

Once Hana heard the door to the bedroom being shut, she ran up the stairs as fast as she could, breathing in deeply and trying not to cry.

* * *

 

Hana didn’t know if it had been God, Cthulhu, some higher cosmic entity or a universal consciousness that made her check her phone just after she plopped herself into bed and was about to go to sleep, completely exhausted by that  _ one _ interaction, but she thanked whatever it was that she did. Yuna had sent a series of texts in the (now aptly named  **Watchpoint: Busan** group chat) a few minutes before.

**[21h20] d.znuts:** the view from my computer screen when i load up overwatch

The next two texts [21h21] from her were two sequential pictures of Maggie the cow from  _ Home on the Range,  _ both of them looking down on the viewer. While the first had her with a neutral, almost negative expression, the second one showed her in a wide-toothy grin while the bell around her neck shined. 

Nine minutes later, she sent a picture of Lucky Jack, the one-legged rabbit from the same movie, getting his peg leg caught on fire by the same fire he was starting. 

**[21h30] d.znuts:** my man here using his peg leg to start a fire if that isnt the most junkrat thing yall ever heard of

Hana smiled to herself, and the memory of her encounter with her mom all but disappeared from her mind. It was still back there, of course, but it felt nice to have something to distract her from it.

**[21h30] Hana:** that absolutely is the most junkrat thing ive ever heard

**[21h30] Hana:** hes probably got a little thing in there so if he presses a button a lit match pop out the bottom

**[21h30] d.znuts:** u think that man is that smart? 

**[21h30] Dae-hyun:** absbsnd

After Dae-hyun typed out that “reply,” Hana quickly swiped right on her screen to check the group chat members. His and Yuna’s icons had little green dots by their images. She smiled again before starting to type.

**[21h31] Hana:** i mean

**[21h31] Hana:** who the fuck ELSE built his prosthetics for him??

**[21h31] Hana:** the man is persona non grata in junkertown

**[21h31] Hana:** and its not like roadhog did it

**[21h31] Hana:** im just sayin

**[21h31] Dae-hyun:** ^

**[21h32] Hana:** like maybe he scrounged the hand bits for his arm cos those look more complex but  u cant tell me the man didnt build his own peg leg and heavily mod his arm

**[21h32] Hana:** also he built his grenade launcher himself, theres schematics of em in his sprays

**[21h32] d.znuts:** HEY GUYS LSKFKASJ

**[21h32] Hana:** whats up

**[21h32] Dae-hyun:** abssbxd

**[21h32] d.znuts:** so i was gonna make audio clips of the movie

**[21h32] d.znuts:** made a video of the 'little piece of heaven' song which is great

**[21h33] d.znuts:** and i sent it to one of my group chats and one of them was like

**[21h33] d.znuts:** 'one minute and a half..............' 

**[21h33] d.znuts:** and i was like 'oh, im SORRY. let me show u the abridged version'

**[21h33] Hana:** dfljasldjskldjsl

**[21h33] Dae-hyun:** aahwbshssbsbs

**[21h33] d.znuts:** and so i sent the four second clip that goes *kid voice* 'youre the biggest cow ive ever seen in my life'

**[21h34] d.znuts:** im telling yall of this HERE because they wont appreciate my GENIUS

Hana had a few questions. Who was Yuna texting? Of course she had other friends, of course she did. C'mon, Hana, some people actually have entire  _circles_ of them instead of just hanging out with the one same friend you've had since they were a baby. She tried to bury those in her head and just enjoy the way the chat was flowing.

**[21h34] Hana:** that is fucking hilarious

**[21h35] d.znuts:** the best part is the 4 second clip reply i sent it not even a minute after he sent the message

**[21h35] Dae-hyun:** holy shit

**[21h35] d.znuts:** so theyll know i already had that clip READY

**[21h35] d.znuts:** cocked and LOADED

**[21h35] Dae-hyun:** wait ur watching home on the range

**[21h35] Dae-hyun:** ?

**[21h35] Hana:** normal people say locked and loaded

She had to contain herself from laughing to loud, remembering briefly that her mom might hear.

**[21h35] Dae-hyun:** absbsn

**[21h35] d.znuts:** IM NOT NORMAL

**[21h35] Dae-hyun:** absbsbsb

**[21h36] Dae-hyun:** **youre tearing this family apart yuna**

**[21h36] d.znuts:** also what the fuck does locked and loaded even mean

**[21h36] Dae-hyun:** ababsbsnsnxndn

**[21h36] d.znuts:** dont u cock a gun???

**[21h36] Dae-hyun:** absbsbsbsbsbznsns

**[21h36] Hana:** yes you cock a gun

**[21h36] Hana:** dunno where locked and loaded came from

**[21h36] Dae-hyun:** ahabshabqbansnsxjxnsjsnansnns

**[21h36] Hana:** presumably somewhere else?

**[21h36] Dae-hyun:** somewheres

**[21h36] Dae-hyun:** ask widowmaker she says locked and loaded

**[21h37] Dae-hyun:** I think

**[21h37] d.znuts:** The second explanation is that the phrase (as "load and lock") originated during  World War II to describe the preparations required to fire an M1 Garand rifle. After an ammunition clip was loaded into the rifle the bolt automatically moved forward in order to "lock" a round into the chamber."

**[21h37] Dae-hyun:** abznsnzjz oh

**[21h37] Hana:** i fucking love that u do that

**[21h37] d.znuts:** i prefer my version

**[21h37] Hana:** immediate google

**[21h37] d.znuts:** that i do what

**[21h37] d.znuts:** oh laksjdlaskdjaslkdja

**[21h37] d.znuts:** SOMBRA VOICE: YOU HAVE INFORMATION AT THE TIP OF UR HANDS??? YOU AINT GONNA USE IT????

**[21h37] d.znuts:** speaking of which, are we going to overwatch or not???

Dae-hyun gave off another excuse that he was about to go to bed and, for a second, and a variety of factors made Hana seriously consider taking a raincheck on Yuna’s offer, but an even bigger part felt like she that was exactly what she needed.

And so she got out of bed and, very carefully, so as to make as little noise as possible, walked over to her desk and pulled out her chair. They played only two comp matches that round before Hana had to call it a night, but they stayed in the Blizzard voice chat for a few minutes after, talking about random Overwatch stuff. 

“It got to a point that match where I didn’t know if it was actually Torb’s turret or Symmetra’s, good God. It just looked like a  _ foot _ ,” Hana said.

Yuna laughed, “Ah, yes… Torbjörn Lindholm, _known_ foot fetishist—”

Hana cut her off immediately. “I’m going to bed,” she said, trying to fake a serious tone.

Yuna was trying to contain her laughter in between her words, “No, no,” she said, “hold on a second I’m su—”

And with that, Hana clicked on her own small icon underneath the General voice chat in the Blizzard app group chat they’d made, and left the call, smirking. 

She waited a few seconds before clicking on the small headset icon and coming back into the voice chat. When she did, she heard the ending of a cut off sentence from Yuna. “—popped right out, huh? Just, uhhhhh, yeeted out of the conversation.”

At that moment, Hana couldn’t contain her laughter anymore, and nearly shouted back into the mic a booming “I yote myself” in between fits of laughing.

“Oh hey,” Yuna said, “you’re back.”

“I yoinked myself back in.”

It took her and Yuna both a while to stop laughing, before Yuna asked, “Weren’t you going to bed?”

She didn’t know if it was because of the way the day had gone, if it had fried away every last self-control neuron she had, or if some cosmic entity had possessed her to say something she really never envisioned herself saying, but Hana obviously wasn’t thinking straight after everything that happened that day. 

She smiled, and didn’t really think much before saying, “I just wanted to hear you say goodbye.”

**Author's Note:**

> No, I don't know anything about South Korea but I also don't know anything about America either so it, like, balances out  
> Yes, I don't regret making D.mon handle d.znuts before it was D.mon.  
> Yes, I would have formatted the chat texts to better fit the Overwatch estétique, but I don't know how to.  
> Yes, I only marked this as mature because I am clueless as to how this will proceed.  
> And, yes, PLEASE! I have not proofread or beta nearly half of this chapter before sending it out, so if you guys want to, like, hmu with any errors you find, I will be immensely grateful. 
> 
> Thanks for playing.


End file.
